


Advent Provides

by ThisIsARealAccount



Category: XCOM (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alien/Human Relationships, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:34:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 92,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28167819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisIsARealAccount/pseuds/ThisIsARealAccount
Summary: Sometime after Advent arrived and established dominion over Earth, things are starting to heat up again. The terrorists have been reinvigorated, and are causing chaos in the city. A cynical Advent VIP with a checkered past, and a distrust of aliens, has his usual routine shaken up when he gets a new bodyguard, which may or may not be a Viper. Can he maneuver though this new world without getting killed by rebels or executed by Advent, and maybe get something out of it? Read on to find out.
Comments: 17
Kudos: 116





	1. Chapter 1

Life’s never been all that good to me, but Advent, Advent has been real good to me. To be honest, I didn’t have much of a life until I started working for them. I mean I had friends and stuff, but I wouldn’t call, seeing everyone else enjoying themselves while I was busy recovering from an 8 hr shift at a factory, much of a life. Now look at me, I’m a mouthpiece for Advent. Sure, I’ve got to go to events, give some speeches, and maybe cut a ribbon or two, but at least I don’t shamble home like a walking corpse and pass out every day. Hell, I’ve even got to be in a few of the programs that Advent airs, and not just anyone can say they're an officially recognized hero by Advent.

Yeah, and all it took to obtain this success was giving detailed info on the meeting location, and identities of a local rebel group. Turns out they were planning something huge, and because of me they weren’t able to execute their plan. How many years has it been since I did that, 3... 4? Honestly, it doesn’t matter, I still don’t regret doing it. Because of what I did, I’m one of their shining examples of what every citizen should be. If only they knew what I really thought about them.

The truth is I have no illusions about the work I do, what I represent, and who I work for. I know full well the Elders are the monarchs of our new world, and that they do shady things, but it doesn’t really bother me. The only difference between how the world was before and how the world is now, is that the puppet masters are out in the open, and don’t look like the puppets. Maybe that’s their way of showing just how powerful they are. People worship them, and there are statues of them everywhere, it’s real fucking obvious who’s pulling the strings around here, and it certainly isn’t us humans anymore. Though it's not all bad, this new world they made really is an improvement, for me at least. When Advent took over, it reset the pecking order in society, guys at the bottom finally had a chance to make it to the top, guys like me. All it took was an opportunity, a little ambition, and you could have a brand new life ten times better than it was before. Of course nothing lasts forever. With the rebels getting more bold and organized, I’m sure Advent will lose control one day, and if that day comes I’ll make sure I’m on the right side of history, whichever side that is.

The advent officer to my left grumbled something to me, about how we were getting close to the new clinic. I shook myself from my thoughts, and looked up from my brown leather shoes and tan slacks. The shoes were actually made of real leather, one of the few relics I had from the old world. My eyes drifted around the limo, there were 3 other Advent troopers in the limo with me. Two sat at the other end of the limo, and one sat closer to me and the Advent officer. Their black armor reflected what little light came in through the tinted windows. One of them sneezed and it brought my attention to the lower part of his face that his helmet didn’t cover.

I smirked. To most of the citizenry these science experiments were human, but I knew better. One of the many privileges I enjoy because of my position: knowledge of Advent. When I was getting set up with security a few years ago I specifically requested human bodyguards, and Advent provided me with these disgusting hybrids. I know how Advent operates, I wanted guards that were human, at least genetically untouched by Advent so I could ensure their loyalties were to me. Of course it wasn’t that simple, turns out Advent doesn’t employ many humans that they didn’t tamper with. At least I was one of them.

I looked over at the Advent officer that woke me from my thoughts and nodded at him. “How much time do I have left before we get there?”

The officer straightened up and looked down at something that was hidden from my view behind his rifle. “Five - minutes.” I always hated the voices of these hybrids. They sounded like they were speaking through a cheap synthesizer and it grated on my ears.

I nodded again, as I reached into my tan suit jacket my eye caught the glint of black metal from my mag pistol poking out from the black holster it was sitting in. It was a surreal experience when my manager handed it to me this morning because civilians were not permitted to carry weapons, and I had never been given one before. The words “Just in case” echoed in my mind. I really hoped this was just a policy change, and that Advent didn’t know something they weren’t telling me. 

No time to worry about that, I had a speech to do soon. I pulled out the notecards I made for the speech I was going to give. I reviewed over the main points Advent wanted me to hit, and the jokes I was going to make. Giving these speeches had almost become second nature to me. I’ll admit, I was nervous as hell the first few times, but I’ve given dozens of them at this point, and Advent practically writes them for me. I, of course take a little pride in my work, and threw in a few pieces of humor throughout the speech to keep myself and the crowd entertained. Advent doesn’t mind. So long as it makes the speeches seem more genuine, they don’t care what I add in. Truthfully, I’m a little proud of this one, it might be my best speech yet. I’ll definitely get em with the one about going in and getting your liver fixed twice in one week because of all the drinking you’ve done.

Chuckling to myself and putting my cards away, I looked out the window to see the crowd that had gathered to watch the opening of the new gene clinic. As I went to push on the button to roll down the window next to me, I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I looked over at the Advent Officer that sat next to me. His blocky red helmet, that looked like a rejected Tetris piece, was in my face, and from what I could see he was frowning at me.

I looked at him for a few seconds, and furrowed my brow. “Look, the crowd wants to see me. Are you suggesting your security for this ceremony is inadequate?” After I finished speaking I saw his frown deepen, so I ripped my shoulder from his grip.

The officer leaned back slowly and pushed a button on the side of his helmet close to his mouth. He spoke a few sentences of that advent language they use, before facing forward.

I returned to the window and rolled it down. As it slid down my ears began to be assaulted by the increasing sound of people cheering. Once it slid all the way down people turned their attention to me. Some people pointed, some waved at me, others just looked on with a smile. There were a lot of people here, way more than I had expected for a gene clinic opening ceremony. Luckily there were enough Advent troopers to keep them at bay. Seeing their excitement, and all the families that were here made me smile genuinely. I didn’t do this for Advent, I did this for myself, but also for them too. My people, and as long as I didn’t let Advent change me, they would continue to be my people. I don’t look down on them. After all, It’s not their fault they don’t know what’s going on, it’s mine. Of course I don’t let that bother me, even if I didn’t do this, someone else would. At least I’m still fully human, at least I still have my free will. I waved back at them, shifting my gaze from person to person.

After waving for a while, I sat back into the limo and grabbed my glass of ice water from the cup holder by the window and took a drink. As I went to set it back down, the limo was rocked with an explosion. Since I never wore my seatbelt in the limo, I was not attached to anything, and bounced around the cabin as the limo flew sideways and rolled. When it finally stopped moving I was laying next to the Advent Officer, on the ceiling of the limo, which was now the floor. My drink had spilled all over me, and broken glass was scattered around the inside of the cabin. When I came to my senses, first I heard gunfire and a few smaller sounding explosions. As my hearing adjusted I heard screams and the sounds of people running in panic.

The Advent Officer looked at me, and grunted. “Are you injured?” He asked in a mechanical way that implied he didn’t personally care.

I looked myself over. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a few small cuts on my hand... I think I might have a bruise or two.” I held up my hand to show him.

He nodded. “Stay in the limo.”

I pointed towards the window. “It’s those damn rebels, isn’t it? I can’t believe they’d attack an event like this, in the middle of the city.”

The Advent officer ignored me and started speaking in advent on the communicator in his helmet. He stood up and barked some orders to the troopers that were in the limo. Only two of them stood up, the other one laid in an increasing pool of orange liquid. When the explosion went off it must have hit right where he was sitting, as evidenced by the large inward dent by his seat.

My eyes went wide, and I looked away. “Damn, that must have been some explosion.” I remarked to myself.

The Advent Officer waved his hand and opened the door to the limo. The two troopers rushed outside, and he followed closely behind. I poked my head out the door, and saw him point at something that was on the other side of the limo. As they began to shoot back at the rebels, I leaned back inside the limo and eyed up the Magnetic Rifle of that dead trooper. It would be better than my pistol, but pulling the trigger would give me a lethal jolt of electricity. I could attempt to bypass the Genetic verification system, but I didn’t really know how to do that and I definitely did not have the tools or the time to start disassembling it. 

Technically, I wasn’t supposed to know how to disassemble one, but the factory I used to work in was a weapons factory that manufactured small arms for Advent. I fucking hated my old job so much. I had planned on stealing parts to build my own Magnetic rifle at home, and shooting my good for nothing boss with it outside of work. That bastard was a terror, and I would have been doing everyone involved a service, but I didn’t follow through because I found “other employment”.

I pulled my pistol from it’s holster and pushed the button above the trigger. It activated, and I pointed it at the door that the Advent officer exited. I’ve never actually shot one of these, but I figured I didn't have to be a good shot if a rebel stuck his head through the open door 5 ft away from me.

I waited, time passed and the battle outside didn’t show any signs of slowing down. It had felt like hours had passed, but when I looked at my arm to check my phone, only a few minutes had passed. I held my pistol with a death grip and didn’t look away from that door for a second. More time passed, and after an explosion, from what I assume was a frag grenade, went off, the sounds of gunfire started to die down, and then it just stopped. I swear I could feel my heart trying to escape my chest. The inside of the limo had started to get hot now that the AC had been disabled for a while. At least my wet suit was keeping me somewhat cool. I wiped the sweat away from my eyes and focused on that door harder.

I heard multiple sets of footsteps walking up to the limo. It sounded like I was being surrounded. Then, I heard a single set of footsteps pace around the limo and stop close to the door. I held my breath and waited. I saw a guy wearing a balaclava stick his head through the door. He was wearing some shoddy grey padded armor, and it had markings on it that clearly weren’t advent. I looked right at his face, and he looked at mine. He looked at me like he had finally found his missing sock that he had been searching hours for, but that didn’t last long. His eyes flicked from me to my gun.

I think he exclaimed something, but I didn’t hear it. I was pumped full of adrenaline, and the shock of not seeing an Advent helmet poke through that door caused me to pull the trigger instinctively multiple times. Three shots rang out and splattered red gore across the wall and floor of the limo. His body collapsed inside the limo. I gasped, and I stared at what I had just done for a few agonizingly long moments. My vision began to blur, but I shook myself out of it. As if possessed, I crawled over to the body and pulled it inside the limo, and reached for the door. As I grabbed the handle, bullets whizzed past and hit the wall behind me, I yanked the door shut with all of my strength. 

I crawled back to my spot and tried to not look at the two corpses that I was now sharing my limo with. I looked over at the door and saw a red handprint where I grabbed the handle, and looked at my own hands to see they were covered in that rebel’s blood. I leaned against the limo, and heard the rebels shouting obscenities as they pumped as much ammo into the limo as they could. I wasn’t scared though, these things were bullet proof, and built to withstand large explosions. Not long after, I heard the sounds of multiple advent dropships pulling up to the scene. To me they were the sounds of my salvation, but to the rebels, well, I’m sure they were shitting their pants right about now. I crawled over to the window of the door I closed to get a better look at what was going on, averting my eyes from the corpses as I passed them. I saw five rebels spaced out along some cover, they were all wearing similar looking grey padded armor, and had balaclavas on. Two rebels were close together and conversing, so I focused my attention on them.

The one on the right pointed at the limo. “If you buy me some time I can get the VIP out of that vehicle.”

The one on the left shook his head. “Look, he’s just not worth it, let’s just blow up the clinic and cut our losses while we still can.” I had never been happier to hear I wasn’t valuable enough to someone.

The one on the right looked at the limo and furrowed his brow, if I didn’t know the windows were tinted I could swear he was looking right at me. “He killed TJ man, we can’t let him get away with that.”

Left rebel replied. “Look, it’s not any of our faults TJ got all gung-ho and wound up dead. We can’t take on all of these reinforcements by ourselves.”

The rebel on the right punched the cover he was by and grunted. “...Okay, but you’re gonna take the blame for this. You know how pissed he’s gonna be.”

The left rebel didn’t speak for a few moments. Probably weighing his options. “I’d rather get back alive and be yelled at, let's pull out.”

The rebel on the left yelled to one of his cohorts, who produced a detonator and pushed a button on it. The clinic exploded into an orange ball of fire, ripping apart the wooden platform I was to give my speech on, flinging debris everywhere, and scorching the ground around it.

I frowned. “Guess this event’ll have to be postponed for a while then. Maybe it’s not so bad, I’ll need a break after this, a long one.” I mumbled to myself.

After thoroughly and completely ruining my speaking event, the rebels I saw ran off to some location behind my limo, except for one who stayed behind. I watched this rebel shoot at something, but from my angle I couldn’t see what he was shooting at. Suddenly he backed away from cover and began firing his rifle from the hip. I saw what looked like a 15 foot long orange armored cobra wielding a plasma rifle slither into view.

I looked closer at it. “That’s one of those viper units I’ve heard about. Advent must be taking this attack seriously if they’re deploying advance troops.”

The rebel fired his whole clip at this viper as he continued backing away slowly. He was only like 20 ft away from it, but he missed every shot, and when he went to reload, the viper was on him in an instant. It coiled around him from toe to head, and the rebel dropped his gun in shock. I had never seen one of these Vipers up close, and it was around this point, now that I got a side view of it, that I realized something weird. It was not an it, but a she. Her breastplate had two extensions on it that seemed to be making space for, well, tits. The armor extensions were pronounced, but not humongous.

The viper dropped her gun too. I raised an eyebrow at that, why would she disarm herself? She looked at the rebel intensely with her crimson reptilian eyes, that contained a hunger I hadn’t seen from any Advent personnel before. The rebel looked defiantly at her, and somehow pulled a grenade from his belt. As he reached for the pin, the viper grabbed both of his hands with her’s, holding his hand and the grenade with one hand. She hissed and her hood began to flair out, the rebel flinched and released the grenade, which the viper let drop onto the ground. The rebel looked at the viper, I couldn’t see much of his face, but he looked scared shitless.

The viper’s hood retracted a little, and she seemed to calm down. She squinted her eyes, and looked around the area. Whatever she saw, or didn’t see, seemed to satisfy her, and she returned her attention to the rebel.

The two just stared at each other for a few moments. Her pupils dilated as she looked him up and down like a piece of meat. Her tongue was flicking in and out slowly, and it was going out far enough that it brushed against the rebel’s balaclava a few times. She reached out and ripped the balaclava off of the rebel’s head. Once she dropped it on the ground a pink tongue slithered out of her mouth and down to the rebel’s head. She traced lines around the exposed parts of the rebel’s neck and face using her tongue, leaving behind trails of saliva that glistened in the light. She seemed to be taking her time, and savoring... well, something. She tightened her coils around the rebel, and felt up his body with her hands. I felt dirty watching this, I wanted to turn away. To just go back to my spot and pretend there wasn’t a 15 ft long snake lady molesting some rebel outside my limo, but I just couldn’t. It was like watching an accident take place, I had to know what was going to happen.

The rebel looked just as confused as I was, and he didn’t get any less confused when the viper pulled her tongue back into her mouth, and adjusted her grip on him. At first I wasn’t sure what was happening, I couldn't see much from my window view on the ground. She lifted the rebel up higher until their hips were level, and then started rhythmically rubbing against him. Her pace steadily increased, and she broke eye contact with the rebel to scan her surroundings again.

The rebel, now realizing what was happening, shook himself out of his trance, and he began to yell. “What the fuck are you doing? Get off me you disgusting freak!”

The viper looked back at the rebel, and lowered her... eyebrows? These vipers appeared more expressive, than I had initially thought. She looked angry, and wrapped her tail around the rebel’s mouth. The rebel tried to kick and squirm, but her coils held tightly against him. She grinded against him more viciously, her tongue flicking in and out erratically. The rebel kept squirming, which only seemed to excite her as she rubbed against him. I heard what sounded like hissing coming from the viper, as the tip of her tail gently slapped against the side of the rebel’s head. She quickened her pace. After a few more moments this horrifying scene came to a crescendo as she tensed up and clenched the rebel close to her body, wrapping her arms around him and squishing his face up against her breastplate. The viper's whole body shook violently, and after a few moments, her movements slowed to a halt. She was breathing heavily as her tongue lolled out of her mouth, and her eyes seemed to have lost the intensity they once held. She looked around the immediate area again, and released the rebel’s mouth. He had stopped squirming, and gasped for air. From the way he hung limply in her grasp, he seemed to have resigned himself to his fate.

The viper looked at the rebel and her features softened a little. She moved her serpentine neck to put her head at eye level with his. The rebel tried to look away from her, but she grabbed his chin, and gently pointed his face at her’s. I don’t know if vipers can smile, but this one’s lips curled slightly upwards as if to mimic one. Hell, I don’t know if these things even have real lips. She moved her head forward, almost like she was going to kiss him or something.

Suddenly an unnerving thought came to mind. “Oh god, she’s going to eat him, isn’t she!”

Even in thinking that, I still couldn’t turn away. When their lips were almost touching, her pupils contracted, and she opened her mouth wide to reveal her long sharp fangs dripping with some sort of green fluid. She shot her head forward and bit down hard on the rebel’s neck. I turned away when his body started convulsing. My... curiosity, had been satisfied, and my day ruined. I crawled back to my spot and sat down, unsure what to make of what I had just witnessed.

I just stared at my shoes for a while. “Screw getting a break, I’m probably gonna need a therapist after that!” I looked at the door. “I really hope she isn’t going to be the one to save me from this limo and that the rebel is still there when I leave.”

As luck would have it, I was pulled from the limo by an advent trooper, and that viper was nowhere to be seen. As I stepped out, I saw that rebel’s body laying face up with some green fluid dripping from his neck. I shuddered when I saw the large wet spot on his pants near his crotch. At least this whole ordeal was over, and I could be taken home.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been only a day since the gene clinic opening ceremony I was going to speak at was crashed by those rebels, and I was already getting interviewed about it. I told them my side of the story, and hit all the beats Advent wanted me to. Stuff like how I was grateful for the protection and fast response of Advent, I’m actually happy they got there when they did, I definitely could have been killed that day. Also, how the troopers that died that day were with the Elders now. I’m not a big fan of the whole Elder worship thing, and I really hope I don’t go anywhere near them when I die. Being in a room with a bunch of thin grey aliens doesn’t sound like my kind of party. I, of course, omitted the viper I saw from my report to Advent and the interview.

I have been avoiding those things as much as I could since the incident. It’s crazy how you never really notice the presence of something until you’re absolutely terrified of it. I’ve been seeing them everywhere lately. In the city, in my neighborhood, there were even some in this tv studio.

That interview had taken a lot out of me, so I went to grab a soda from the vending machine down the hall. The hallway was clean and well lit, and there wasn’t much of interest in it besides the... 7 foot tall viper slithering towards me.

I kept my pace and tried to avoid making eye contact with it. It was probably just on a patrol or something, but this was the first time I had been close to one since the terrorist attack. I felt my heart rate increase, and I knew it was looking at me as it got closer. Suddenly, I thought about it just stopping in the middle of this empty hallway, and pushing me against a wall. I didn’t want to think about what would happen after that. I started sweating, so I tugged on my red tie, which had an advent logo on it, to loosen it. I looked over at it for a second and saw it was staring at me with dilated pupils. I actually let loose a yelp when I found out it was looking at me, and snapped my head forward. It passed by me silently.

I saw my goal ahead of me: the soda machine. It had that standard Advent aesthetic to it, black with some red glowing lights. Completely designed for utility, no pizzazz whatsoever. Once I reached it, I turned around to see that viper turning a corner and traveling down another hallway. I sighed in relief as I looked over my choices: advent cola, advent orange, advent lime, or advent grape. I waved my arm in front of the machine, and my phone carried out the transaction. I pushed the button for Advent lime, and pulled out the bottle.

I started sipping on it, as I walked to my makeup room, dreading who I would surely meet there. My manager, who on the best of days was an emotionless prick. I’m not sure what the hell he is, but he certainly is not human. I’d like to say he’s a relic from the invasion, but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else that looks exactly like him. I think I heard someone call him a Thin-man once, which would make sense. I mean, the guy is built like a twig, but if he is an alien I don’t understand what the Elder’s were thinking when they made him. He looks like he’s going to run for senate, or something, and he’s ugly. I wonder just how good they’ve gotten at mimicking us since the invasion?

To be honest I’m not sure why Advent keeps my manager around. Who knows, maybe he did something exceptional and this is his reward, or maybe this is a punishment. My musing came to an end, I had reached the door to my makeup room. I sighed, grabbed the door handle, and entered the room.

There he was in all of his blue suited glory, sitting in one of the pleather chairs at the back of the room. Strangely enough, I saw a short glass filled with brown liquid and ice sitting next to him on an end table. “Hello... Manny.” I’ll never know why he wants me to call him by the nickname of a 40 year old trucker, but every time I’ve tried to question him about it he dodges them. I don’t know, he probably just chose it to fuck with me.

He looked up at me and adjusted his gold rimmed spectacles. “Mr. Hickey. I see you have finished with your interview. I was watching on the Viewing screen over there.” He gestured to a TV in the corner of the room. “Your performance was... adequate.” He spoke in that matter of fact sort of way, seems he’s in a good mood today.

I chuckled and put on a smile. “Well, I would have had more time to prepare If you didn’t schedule my interview the day after the event.”

He nodded. “You understand how media works. The story must be put out right away. We can’t have people filling in the blanks with lies, now can we?”

I rubbed my forehead and sighed. “I’m just gonna be straightforward with you, I need a break.” It took a lot of effort to squeeze that out of myself.

His brow furrowed and he looked at me with a serious expression. “Out of the question. I have you assigned to 3 interviews this week alone. You have a duty...”

Normally I can deal with Manny’s inhuman attitude, but tonight was different. I just couldn’t take the pressure anymore, so I snapped. “Manny, I fucking killed somebody yesterday! I saw his brains splatter against the wall of my limo. 24 hours ago I was in a fucking warzone! I’ve put up with a lot of shit, but I need a break.”

He put his hand up to his chin, in thought. “I do not understand why you are upset about killing a terrorist. You were instrumental in getting a substantial number of them killed years ago. This is good.”

I can’t believe he brought that up, especially now. It was 4 years ago I still remember the stench of that shitty apartment. I had been drinking all day, and finally worked up the courage to do it. I remember shakily dialing the number for Advent’s suspicious activity hotline. The woman who answered barely said a word as I told her the meeting location and time of a local rebel group. I managed to say their names to her, reading them off of a list I had made. She thanked me for my time and that was that. The decision was much harder than the act itself. Turned out they were planning something huge, and because of me they weren’t able to execute their plan. It’s the main reason I have my job. It’s why Advent put me up on a pedestal and declared me a hero.

I blinked my eyes and pushed that memory away. Manny was still talking about something, so I interrupted him. “There’s a difference between killing someone, and leaving a tip on a meeting location. I was able to do this interview, but I don’t know if I can keep it together enough to do more.”

He didn’t react to my outburst. He was silent, and appeared to be analyzing every word I spoke. He waited to respond until I was finished speaking. “I can see you are emotionally distraught Mr. Hickey, but I am not a therapist.” Yeah tell me something I don’t already know you alien freak. “Though, I understand your concern. It is not your duty to defend yourself, that is our duty.”

Still rageful, I butted in. “So, what are you gonna do about it?”

Manny stood up and straightened his tie. Being a head taller than me, he was looking down at me. “I would like to apologize on behalf of Advent for not providing you with adequate security. It is... regrettable that you had to experience what you did. However, because this attack was, in part, directed at you. I can arrange for you to have better security. I think Advent would consider granting you a non-trooper field operative, and you will likely be permitted to keep your gun.”

I was in shock, Manny had actually listened to my complaints for once. I guess Advent really dropped the ball on this one. I was happy to hear he’d buff my security, but I don’t like the way he described my new bodyguard. “What do you mean by non-trooper field operative?”

Manny pursed his lips. “Your new guard will not be human at all.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, so all I said was. “No.”

Manny shook his head. “It’s not your decision to make.”

I tried to hold my tongue, but I couldn’t. “Manny, you know how I feel about non-human guards. I don’t want some... alien following me around all day! At least when I had the troopers I could pretend they were human. I can’t trust them to protect me.” My eyes widened a little, I probably shouldn’t have said that.

Manny gritted his teeth audibly, which he only did when I had managed to thoroughly piss him off. “Mr. Hickey, you are a valuable asset to Advent, and we want what is in both your and humanity’s best interests.” He pulled off his spectacles to reveal his reptilian eyes and looked directly into mine. “Just because we were born offworld doesn’t mean we aren’t earthlings. It is the will of the Elders that we all live together, and you have a duty to the Elders and to Advent. You wouldn’t be thinking of defying the Elders wishes, would you?”

Shit, he had me. There was no way I was getting out of this without just submitting. Even if Manny was an earthling, he certainly doesn’t act like one. Or, at least, I doubt he sees everyone else as fellow earthlings. “No, you’re right Manny, I’m sorry. It’s just difficult for me to adjust to new things. I’m grateful for everything Advent and the Elders have done for me and for humanity. I’ve just been under a lot of stress lately, and I need a break.”

Manny’s pupils contracted, and he seemed to be studying me while I spoke. When I finished he seemed satisfied with my answer. “I understand. I’ll see what can be arranged with this break of yours. I suppose the trauma you have experienced warrants it. - As for the new bodyguard, do you understand?”

I still wasn’t ready to back down on that. “I don’t, couldn’t you just assign me more troopers this time?”

Manny shook his head. “It would be inefficient to have a large detachment of peacekeepers protecting you at all times, and it would draw too much attention in public.”

I sighed, and looked away from Manny’s interrogating eyes. “I understand.”

I heard my manager sit back down in his chair. “Good, I’ll ensure that this is organized for tomorrow, and I will discuss the possibility of your break. You should go home now. Unless you wish to discuss something more with me?”

I chuckled. “Yeah, thanks, but I’ll have to pass on the small talk. See you around Manny.”

He put his spectacles back on. “Farewell Mr. Hickey, stay out of trouble.” As I left the room I saw him reach for the glass of whisky sitting next to his chair. I didn’t even know he could drink, but I suppose we all have our vices.

It didn’t take long before I was home. The trip to the gated community I lived in never took that long because it was close to the middle of the city. Another one of the privileges I got to enjoy: living in a well guarded little suburb reminiscent of how they used to look. My house wasn’t huge, but it was the lap of luxury compared to the shitty apartment I was assigned when I was a factory worker. Two stories (if you count the basement), four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a small backyard. It was designed as a family home, but they assigned it to me for some reason. Probably because they didn’t want to build a new one.

I walked inside and turned the lights on. Over the last two days I had started to realize how empty this house was. Usually there’d be at least one trooper outside, or in the basement, but now I was well and truly alone. I saw that pistol sitting on my island countertop in the kitchen. I walked over to it and read the paper tag attached to it. “Cleaned and inspected by” and there was a signature at the bottom, but I couldn’t tell what the name was. I ripped the tag off and threw it in the trash. 

I picked up the gun and observed it as I walked into my bedroom. I had left it in the limo, and didn’t think about taking it with me. For all I knew this could be a different gun, but I had a feeling it was the same one. I saw myself shooting that terrorist flash into mind. It was scary how easy it was - I saw him poke his head in the door, and I pulled the trigger without thinking for even a moment. It was over in an instant, and I didn’t even have to use all the bullets in the clip. When I was in the limo, all I could think about was what the rebels were gonna do to me if they got in, and after I killed him it was still all I could think about. Even now I didn’t feel any guilt for killing him, did that make me a bad person? I shook these thoughts from my mind and shoved the gun in my nightstand drawer. No, I was not like those terrorists, I was not a remorseless killer. Hopefully with the gun out of sight I could put these thoughts out of my mind. I grabbed some clothes and left my room.

I showered before returning to my room. As I walked in, I looked over my posters from the old world hanging on my walls. Nothing too fancy, just some video games and one for a soda brand. It wasn’t much, but I liked to reminisce about how things used to be when I was younger. Some of my neighbors were crazy about collecting relics from the old world. Hell, Frank across the street has his basement done up to look like a speakeasy from the prohibition era. Yeah, he’s thrown some great parties.

Of course It was all just stuff to me, I didn’t really need it. I mean, I’d hate to lose my father’s leather shoes, but I’d trade it all to make this house feel less empty. This house oppressed me with the silence that pervaded throughout it. I guess It didn’t matter how many people I hung out with, or how many parties I went to. At the end of the day, I entered an empty room, turned off the lights, and climbed into a cold bed with nothing but my thoughts for company. 

I chastised myself for that last thought. Shouldn’t be so pessimistic, at least I have a house, and a well paying job. I chuckled to myself as I walked through my empty room, flicked the lightswitch, and climbed into my cold bed. All I could think about was what Advent was going to assign me tomorrow as a bodyguard. I hoped it wasn’t one of those sectoids, I didn’t need Advent getting daily reports on my thoughts. It took a while, but eventually I fell into a restless sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up to the sound of my phone’s alarm going off. I shot up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I was covered in sweat and it left a large wet spot on my bed despite the temperature being set at a cool 68 °F. I think I was having a nightmare, but I couldn’t remember the details. I leaned over to face my nightstand and reached for my phone to silence the alarm. I pushed on the screen and shut off the alarm. My phone read 9:00 am in bold print back to me. I smiled because I knew that there was no way Advent could assign me to do anything without security, so I’d at least get today off. 

I jumped out of bed and slipped into a t-shirt and shorts. Black with “Advent” printed on them in bold white lettering. I didn’t actually have a lot of clothes that were free of Advent branding besides my suits. Some days I didn’t mind it, and other times: it made me feel like I was marked as their property. Though, I suppose it would still be true, even if I didn't wear the clothes they gave me. I grabbed my phone off the nightstand, and strapped it to my forearm while leaving my bedroom. 

I walked out into the kitchen and made myself a bowl of cereal and milk on the counter. Well, technically it’s Advent Milk Substitute, but same thing really. I’m not really sure what Milk substitute is, but it isn’t soy milk, and it tastes like what I remember milk tasting like, so I don’t have any leads. 

However, today was my day off, so I guess that’s a mystery for another day. I walked over to the grey couch in my living room, and sat down, kicking my feet up on the wooden coffee table. I set the cereal on my lap and started eating while I flicked through channels on the tv across from my couch. Eventually I found a channel that was playing a movie I had seen before: Darker Streets Darker Past. It was the sequel to Dark Streets Dark past: a sci-fi dystopian film funded partially by Advent. I liked it enough, so I watched it while I finished my breakfast. 

It didn’t take long to finish my cereal, so I set the bowl on my coffee table, and kept watching the movie. Eventually it finished, and I started watching the next one that came on. Hmmm, I could really go for an Advent burger right about now. I would go out, but not having security was a double edged sword. On one hand I didn’t have to do any work, and on the other it would be a terrible idea for me to go outside unescorted. Especially so soon after the terrorist attack on the gene clinic. Nope, I’ll have to wait until my new security arrives, the “non-trooper field operative” as Manny described it. 

A couple hours later, and another movie watched, I got a message from Manny. It read: “Mr. Hickey, thank you for your patience. Your new bodyguard is waiting outside for you. Do understand, it took me some effort to acquire this one, so don’t judge too quickly. Also, you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve secured you two weeks paid leave. Ensure that you are in functioning form when your vacation is over, and we’ll return to your regular schedule then. Enjoy your day.”

Holy shit, that son of a... alien did it. Two weeks huh, I could do a lot during that. I sent Manny a quick response thanking him for his efforts. Well, I suppose I shouldn’t keep my new bodyguard waiting. Who knows, since they’ve given me some time off, I might be willing to forgive Advent for this whole ordeal and for foisting an alien spy on me. I suppose my old guards probably spied on me anyway, so whatever. 

I grabbed my sunglasses, slipped on my leather shoes, and headed out the door. My optimism was, unfortunately, drained from my body the moment I opened my front door. There... standing? I don’t even know where this thing’s torso technically ends, but standing next to my car, with the backdoor open, in my driveway, was one of those vipers. The very thing I have been trying to avoid the last three days, was outside my house and assigned to me as a bodyguard. I couldn’t believe it, I hadn’t even considered this was a possibility. Suddenly my concerns about having a sectoid as a guard disappeared now that this thing was like 30 ft away and looking right at me with crimson eyes. My heart rate began to quicken and I definitely felt like I was in fight or flight mode. I nearly collapsed at the door, but instead, I quickly ran inside, shut the door, and began frantically calling Manny on my phone. 

He didn’t answer, of course he didn’t. He was fucking with me, he must have somehow found out about the incident I witnessed. Oh god, what if they suspect me of something and are planning on taking me in for questioning? Not writing something in a report is tantamount to treason in my position. I stood inside my house thinking about all the terrible things Advent could do to me if they found me guilty of treason and chastising myself for not just writing it in. 

After a short while I realized something. Wait, I never told anyone about it, so the only way Advent would know is if something read my mind, but I haven't been around any psionic types, so there's no way that happened. I’m safe, for now. I’ll just have to pretend nothing is wrong and hope they don’t figure out I omitted something from the report. 

I took a few deep breaths and walked out my front door, again. This time, instead of looking at me normally, the viper was looking at me with it’s head slightly cocked to the left. This one looked the same as the other ones I had seen. It was at least a foot taller than me, and it was probably like 12 or 15 feet long. Its face was strangely emotive, usually they just looked angry all the time, but this one had raised it’s... eyebrows? And it appeared to be concerned. It had some kind of cobra hood, which was weird because they’re called Vipers, not cobras. My eyes drifted down and I noticed this thing was wearing the standard armor that they all wore and the breastplate had the same two boob extensions on it. Were they all female? I have yet to see one without tits. Maybe both the males and the females have tits, now there’s a scary thought. I looked down at its tail and noticed that it had an orange and yellow pattern on it similar to a diamondback rattlesnake. Yup, standard viper, and now I was taking a ride to Advent Burger with it.

I could only stall this for so long, so I faked a smile and put on my sunglasses. As I was walking up to my car I avoided making eye contact with it, and instead eyed up that shiny plasma rifle it was carrying. Quite the piece of hardware, I’ve seen them shoot big holes through the training dummies at the quality control facility at my old factory job. 

I slid past it and moved over to my seat on the left side of the car. Once I was seated it slithered in behind me and took its seat. The inside of this car was spacious, but this Viper was huge. It coiled up its body around the floor, and on the open space between us, but part of its tail was brushing up against my leg. I couldn’t help but tremble a little when its tail touched me. 

The driver spoke up. “Where to, Mr. Hickey?” He sounded different from my normal driver.

I looked up at the mirror confused. I saw a new face reflected back at me. It’s unfortunate, but I think my old driver may have died. I didn’t know Ron too well, but he was a good man. I should ask Manny about it later. “Take me to Advent Burger, the one on uh, 57th avenue.”

I saw the driver nod, and he pulled out of my driveway and onto the road. I shut the plexiglass window that separated the front of the car from the back, and tried to get comfortable to no avail. How could I get comfortable when I’m locked in a car with some sort of giant alien monster? I can feel it touching me right now, so it’s not like I can pretend it isn’t here. I know what it is capable of, I've seen it with my own eyes. I looked over at it, it didn’t seem interested in me, and was just staring out the window. Probably watching the scenery change from suburban to urban.

It definitely suspects something, it was looking at me funny when I was walking back to the car. I... I have to say something to it, so it doesn’t wonder why I’m so nervous. Wait, can these things even talk? Whatever, I might as well try. 

I took a deep breath and I looked at it. “So, uh, you're my new bodyguard, huh?” It didn’t turn around until I said bodyguard. It rotated its head to face me without moving its body. Its neck was slouching since the car’s roof wasn’t very high. It seemed to be looking at me with a mild interest. Its pupils were slightly dilated and its tongue occasionally flicked out and lingered in the air for a few moments before being retracted. 

Its gaze, while soft, felt scrutinizing. I continued anyway. “My name is uh, well you probably already know my name. Since you’re assigned to me and all, heh. What’s your name?”

It reached over and tapped on the shoulder pad of its armor with a clawed finger. I looked closer to where it tapped and saw 117-45-LH printed on the armor. The surface under the LH was shiner than the area that surrounded it. It looked like it had been sanded recently. 

I was surprised that it actually understood me, that’s a step up from the Advent troopers I was usually around, but that wasn’t much of a name. “Woah, you understand me?”

It smirked, I think, and spoke. “I can do more than understand.” Her voice was strange, but not unpleasant. When she spoke it sounded forced, and she lingered on the S’s half a second too long. Her d’s sounded more like t’s, and she was pronouncing all the syllables with the front of her mouth. 

I was taken aback, I wasn’t sure if this thing could understand me, let alone talk back. “You... you can talk?”

She snorted a little. “I can, do you not trust your own ears?”

Is she getting snarky with me too? “No, it’s not that, uh, I’m just surprised is all. Can you all do that?”

Her smirk vanished. “No, most of my sisters would prefer to use translators, or simply don’t converse at all, but there is value in being able to speak the human tongue. It is why I was chosen for this assignment.” 

“So, why did you pick English? There are more languages we speak.”

She squinted her eyes and I got the feeling she thought I was stupid. “Unless I am mistaken, it is the one that is spoken on this continent.”

It was a strange feeling conversing with this Viper. I hadn’t noticed it at first, but my fear was dissipating, and I was actually starting to relax a little. “Well it is... let’s just change the subject. Your name is 117-45-LH?”

She cocked her head slightly. “It is my designation.” 

“Well, it's a mouthful, can I call you Eleven Seven, maybe even just Eleven?”

She looked up in thought for a few moments, and returned her attention to me. “It doesn’t matter what you call me.”

I forced a smile. “Ok, great.” After I said that I returned my attention back to the window, and 11-7 (eleven seven) did the same. She definitely wouldn’t suspect anything now, and soon I would be enjoying a juicy advent burger by myself. 

After a few more minutes of driving, the driver knocked on the plexiglass divider and opened it. “We’re here, Mr. Hickey.”

I looked up and saw that beautiful sign with a big burger on it. I smiled, and felt my stomach growl with anticipation. “Just pull into the parking lot.” I ordered.

The driver pulled in, and I got out. I walked to the window next to him and he rolled it down. I finally got a good look at him. He was a middle aged man, who was balding slightly, and his body was dumpy looking. I spoke. “Just stay in the parking lot or something. I usually like to hang out inside for an hour or so.”

He nodded, and as I was about to turn and go inside I heard the sound of a car door closing. I looked over to see the viper’s head poking up above the car. I couldn’t let this happen, I’d already seen enough of this snake today. I didn’t need it coming inside and watching me eat lunch. “Hey, uh, 11-7...” She turned to look at me. “You don’t need to come in with me. You can just wait in the car while I eat.”

She squinted her eyes and lightly snorted. “While you are outside neighborhood D18, I am required to escort you at all times.” 

I rubbed my forehead with one hand. “Look, there are a lot of people in there that know me, and I would prefer it if they didn’t see me walking around with... a giant snake.”

She lowered her scaly brows and that frown that was always on her face deepened. Her hood flared out and she didn’t even speak. She just slithered around the car and stopped when she was right next to me. I looked up at her angrily, but she just stared forward and smirked when I let out a sigh. It was too much to assume this thing would be lenient. She was as by the book as the advent troopers.

I walked up to the door, and grabbed the handle, bracing myself for what might happen inside. I pushed the door a little as I walked in, so 11-7 could grab it easier. I looked around the room, and like I had expected, everyone was staring at us. So much for keeping a low profile, Manny. It wasn’t packed, but there were still too many people inside. Luckily, I saw an empty booth away from everyone, so I was happy. I tried to ignore their stares as I walked up to the counter. As I got there I saw something that made me want to turn and leave, but it was too late because he was already waving at me. 

He yelled at me from the cashier’s counter. “Heya Luke, long time no see.” 

I strolled over, trying to pretend it was business as usual, while 11-7 slithered right up to my left side. “Hi Matt. How’s work.”

As she came into view, Matt gawked at her the whole time. His eyes darted from her to me. “Uhhhh, you know, hardly workin.” He cupped his mouth to direct his voice towards me and whispered. “What is that, is it with you?”

I sighed “Yes, this is my escort.” Immediately I regretted saying that. 

His fear dissipated and he smiled devilishly. “Woah man, I didn’t know you were into that sort of thing, but I guess the heart wants what the heart wants.” The female cashier next to him giggled a little. Dammit, why did she have to say she was escorting me in the parking lot?

I cleared my throat. “What I meant is that she is my new bodyguard, and is filling in for my old ones.”

His tone changed to more of a somber one. “Yeah, I heard about that on the news. You still doing alright after all that? This is the first we’ve seen of you for a while.” 

I nodded. “I’m still getting used to some of the changes I’ve had to make since then, but I’m fine.”

Suddenly a gruff sounding woman piped up from the back. “You gonna keep taking up my counter space, or are ya gonna order something?” 

I yelled back into the kitchen. “I don’t know Debra, it is a nice counter, might stand here long enough to put you out of business.”

She yelled back. “It’s good to hear you’re alright Lucas, we were worried about ya.” Kind of funny the place I felt most appreciated was a fucking burger joint, but I’ll take it. 

Matt smiled. “You want the usual?”

“Yeah, large Cowboy Burger Combo with an Advent Citrus.” 

He typed on the machine that was in front of him on the cashier’s counter. “What does... your bodyguard want?” He pointed at the viper standing to my left. 

I hadn’t even considered that she might want something. I looked at her and sighed. “What do you want?”

She squinted her eyes and stared at the menu. After a few moments she shrugged her shoulders.

I looked back at Matt. “Just get her what I’m having.”

He typed on the machine more. “That’ll be 5.53 credits.” I waved my phone in front of the machine, and it transferred the funds. “Here’s your drinks, we’ll have the food ready soon.” 

I grabbed my soda and stood away from the counter. I saw 11-7 drop her rifle to her side and grab her soda. She slithered over by me and wrapped her tail up, so she wasn't taking up room on the floor. I nursed my drink while we were waiting. I was content to just watch them cook in the kitchen, but I felt like someone was staring at me, so I looked and saw her watching me drink my soda with great interest. 

The moment I saw her, she looked away at her soda. I watched her bring it up to her face. She seemed to be studying it. She flicked her tongue out right over the straw hole. After doing that a few times, she closed her mouth around it, and started making strange noises. This went on for an uncomfortably long amount of time, then she started to tip the cup up towards her face, and without thinking I grabbed her arm.

She looked at me with dilated pupils and raised an eyebrow. “You’re supposed to suck on the straw. Like this.” I made sucking noises, so she got the idea.

She put the straw in her mouth again, and this time I saw liquid go up through it. She smiled slightly, and she seemed quite pleased with herself. I chuckled to myself, it was pretty funny that the biological alien murder machine didn’t know how to use a straw. 

After a few minutes the food was done, and I went up to grab my tray. 11-7 did the same. I went over to the other counter and as I pumped a bunch of ketchup on my tray, I noticed she was mimicking my every move. Strange, but I walked over to the empty booth I saw when I came in. Everyone in the restaurant was staring at us, but at least there wasn’t anyone directly around this booth. I took my seat, and she slithered into her seat, draping her body across the booth seat and curling the rest under the table. 

I felt her tail bush up against me again, maybe I should have picked a table instead. I guess I’ll never have any respite from this snakelike nuisance, so long as I’m not in my neighborhood. I unwrapped my burger and admired it for a moment. It was a thing to behold, two beef patties, cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and onion. All held together between sesame seed buns. One of the few things I could truly lose myself in. I took a bite, savoring its flavor. My enjoyment was interrupted though because I felt her staring at me again. I looked up from my burger to see her eyes dart away from me to her own burger. 

I chuckled to myself, this ought to be good. I watched her poke the wrapped burger a few times before she unwrapped it. She set her plasma rifle down and leaned it against the wall. It was my turn to stare now. She held the burger in front of her face, flicking her tongue near it a couple times. She then opened her mouth up wide, and when I say wide I mean wide enough to swallow a cat. Now, I’m not a biologist or anything, but while I was feeling extremely terrified I noticed that she only had two teeth: the fangs on the roof of her mouth. Which means there was no way she was gonna chew that burger. I glanced around the room, and saw everyone else gawking at 11-7 as much as I was. She gently placed the burger in, closed her mouth around it, and swallowed.

Her face lit up, and her hard features softened a little. She seemed to enjoy it, but I couldn’t say the same. My burger looked a little less appealing now, so I started working on my fries instead. I dipped one in ketchup and ate it. I looked up expectantly at 11-7, dreading what I knew would come next. She grabbed her large box of fries and dumped them in her mouth. Then she did something new, I watched her tongue slide out of her mouth, go down to her tray, which was like 2 feet away from her head. She scooped up most of the ketchup with her tongue, and plopped it on top of the fries in her maw. She closed her mouth and swallowed, which elicited the same reaction from her, me, and the rest of the restaurant. 

My appetite had been mostly ruined. I nibbled at my burger, but only because I knew I hadn’t eaten in a while. I heard her giggle, like she actually made a giggling sound. I looked up at her.

She seemed happy, much happier than when I said I didn’t want a giant snake following me around. I was kind of feeling happy for her, then she decided to question me. “You aren’t scared of me are you?”

I almost choked on a piece of my burger, but I washed it down with some soda. She was getting suspicious. “Uh, why do you ask?”

She squinted her crimson eyes and looked directly into mine. I started to get the same feeling that I got when Manny interrogated me. “You acted strange when you were picked up. You have been nervous the whole time, and now you’re barely touching your delicious food.” 

Shit, and here I thought I was being careful. Looks like I’m gonna have to try harder, but I had an excellent excuse for now. “I’m not scared of you, I’m still just worried about the terrorists. It has only been two days.”

She took my response seriously, and raised her chin up in a prideful manner. “You have nothing to fear. I would die before letting those rebels touch you.“ Great, not making me feel much better, but I’m surprised she said that. It was one thing to assume it, but it was another thing entirely to hear her say it directly to me, and proudly at that. 

I decided to change the subject to one less morbid. “Have you ever been to an Advent Burger before?” 

She shook her head. “No.” She paused for a minute, seemingly debating whether or not to say something. “Actually, this is my first time interacting with human society.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. What did that statement even mean? Whatever it did mean, she was very deliberate with how she said it. I figured I’d turn the tables on her, since she decided to probe me earlier. “Well, for your first time you didn’t do too bad. Is that what all the staring was about?” 

She froze, like a deer in headlights. “I don’t know what you’re speaking of.” 

I grinned, and decided to tease her further. “Oh, you know, when you were watching me eat and mimicking my every move.”

Her eyebrows moved down a little, and her frown deepened. “Unless you can eat that burger in one bite, I was not mimicking you.” She pointed at my burger. “Are you even going to finish it?”

I actually laughed at that. “No I can’t do that. I think I’ll be taking this order to go.”

It was a strange experience, I almost felt like I was speaking with an actual person and not some giant alien cobra lady. Hell, the way we were bickering you might even think we were friends. Whatever, maybe I didn’t have to be terrified of her. I suppose if I’m genuinely not scared of her that makes my efforts to pretend to not be scared of her, easier. I don’t trust her though, and it’ll be a cold day in hell before I let my guard down around her. 

We talked a little more about the weather and stuff, nothing important. Then I grabbed a bag from up front, packed away my food, and got in my car. The ride home was significantly less tense than the ride to Advent Burger. 11-7 asked me if I wanted to go anywhere else, but I declined. I’ve had enough of an adventure for today. 

Once we got back to my house I waved goodbye to the driver, and to 11-7. I went inside, threw my leftovers in the fridge, and sat down on the couch to watch tv. All things considered, today wasn’t too bad. It certainly could have gone worse, and I guess I didn’t hate that viper. Maybe I’d be fine with her staying around, even though I am basically forced to keep her at this point. 

A few hours later I got a call from Manny, who was checking in to see what I thought of the new bodyguard. I got mad at him for not answering my call that morning, but he shrugged it off by saying he wanted me to try her out first before he got a different one. I mentioned my old driver Ron to him, and apparently he was in the hospital, but he would be out soon and go back to driving for me. I told Manny that I liked the viper, and that she could stay on as my bodyguard. Manny sounded pleased to hear that, but what he said next complicated things. He said she would be moving into my house permanently and that Advent would be bringing over furniture for her tomorrow. 

Great, now this viper would be living with me. I don’t know why I was shocked by this revelation, I mean the Advent troopers lived with me, but this somehow felt different. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it, but it didn’t really matter, there wasn’t much I could do about it now that things were set in motion. I could change my mind about having her as my guard, but something equally as weird would take her place. I thanked Manny and went back to watching tv.

A marathon of Home-Wreckers was playing. It was a comedy show about rebels trying to take down a government, but due to their own incompetence they failed most of the time. It was a decent show, and one I was in. I played a new recruit named Private Johnston, who accidentally joins the group thinking it was an outdoors club. I watched this show for the rest of the day, eventually passing out on the couch.


	4. Chapter 4

I’m in the limo again, sitting down in the back. I look up and see the seat is above me. The inside is empty besides the broken glass that peppered the floor. I focused my ears on what was happening around me, but heard no sounds. I looked down at my hands and saw I was holding my magnetic pistol in them. I tilted my head up, and saw the door to the limo was open, so I pointed the gun at the door, and waited. After a few moments passed I saw the head of a young man poke through the door. He looked very plain, and he wasn’t wearing any face coverings. He was wearing tattered grey armor that had no advent markings on it. He smiled at me warmly, but his sudden entrance, and the fact that he wasn’t Advent startled me, so I pulled the trigger. 

Three shots rang out and hit him in the face. His head exploded, and sprayed blood all over me and the inside of the limo. It was like I had burst a balloon filled with more blood than it should have been able to contain. In an instant my vision was cut off. I felt the warmth of this man’s blood coating my entire body and the gun I was holding felt slick. I dropped the pistol in shock and wiped my eyes with my hands. I opened them and looked down in horror at my bloodsoaked hands. A scream erupted from my lips. Once I started screaming I saw the familiar orange and yellow colored tail of a viper slither its way into the limo. I silenced my scream and watched it’s movements. It was feeling around the inside of the limo for something. As the tail approached me I thought about reaching for the gun, but I didn’t want to alert it to my presence. The tail slowly made its way towards me and eventually bumped into my shoe. It reared back like a cobra ready to strike, but instead of striking it tentatively began exploring my shoe. I sat there deathly still hoping it would get bored and move on, but it didn’t. It started to curl around my shoe and it wiggled its way into my pant leg, wrapping around my leg up to my calf. It yanked me out of the limo in one graceful motion. I tried to grab onto something as I was dragged out, but everything was coated in blood, so I couldn’t get a good grip.

I was laid out on the ground, and saw I was surrounded by rebels. All of their faces were covered by balaclavas and they were holding assault rifles of varying conditions. I stood up and tried to push past them, so I could get away from the limo, but they shoved me back and knocked me to the ground. When I looked up I saw another rebel without a face covering, but this one had a viper coiled around him. The viper looked me directly in the eyes, as I was laying on the ground, and bit into the rebels neck. I watched him convulse and make horrible gurgling noises for several moments before the viper tightened her body around him. I heard multiple sickening cracks. It sounded like someone breaking branches off of a living tree. The rebel’s body was mangled. His arms and legs were bent at different angles, and it looked like his chest caved in. The viper released him, letting his body fall to the ground.

When the viper let his body go he fell sideways and faced me as he was falling until he hit the ground. I saw green fluid drip from his eyes, nose and mouth. As the fluid pooled on the ground under his head, he pointed at me and spoke with a raspy voice that sounded like he had a broken larynx. “You’re... next...”

My eyes darted from him up to the viper, it was slithering towards me. I jumped up and tried to dive back into the blood soaked limo, but it was already upon me. It grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me close, coiling around my body. I felt air being squeezed out of my lungs. I couldn’t move, but I wasn’t being killed. It felt like I was being restrained with steel cable, large and muscular steel cable that was warm and had a little give to it.

She was massive, her body easily managing to surround mine in a wall of flesh. I looked up and saw her head was positioned a few feet above mine. Using the blood that coated me as lubricant, I squirmed and tried to free myself, but all I managed to do was elicit a garbled hiss from the viper. I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of watching me suffer, so I looked away from her, but she grabbed my head and turned it to face her. Her thin arms were stronger than they looked. She moved her face inches from mine, and I could see she had a mischievous look to her. Completely restrained, all I could do was just stare at her face. I tried to look around her, but I felt compelled to look at her eyes. Before I knew what had happened I was staring deep into her crimson eyes and sensing the intent in them.

I did not like what I saw behind her eyes; it wasn’t the murderous intent that frightened me, but the lust that I saw. I knew what was coming, so I yelled out for help. Her head shot forward and I closed my eyes bracing for the worst.

Instead of feeling fangs sink into my neck I felt her lips press against mine. They were surprisingly warm, and were not hard like I expected. They were soft, spongy almost. Similar in feeling to a human's lips, but I could feel the grooves in between her scales. I opened my eyes and attempted to yell for help again, but she forced her tongue into my mouth, silencing me. I felt her tongue exploring every part of my mouth. Her tongue was long, and it had an unnatural strength to it. It was like I had a slimy piece of smooth rope rolling around in my mouth. I tried to force it out with my own tongue, but she easily overpowered mine. All the while her eyes were lit with a fiery desire that she projected onto me. I thought about biting down on her tongue, but as soon as it crossed my mind, she slipped her tongue down my throat and made me gag. I coughed, and the Viper retracted her tongue. She giggled and put her hand in front of her mouth, as if to say oopsie.

I didn’t want to choke on her tongue again, so I didn’t bother calling for help this time. She winked at me, and leaned forward to kiss me again, less violently than when she started. Easing into a more sensual, passionate kiss. I felt a new sensation, a four fingered hand touched my stomach, and began exploring my torso. She lightly scratched my chest with her claws as she explored, which sent chills across my body. Much as I didn’t want to admit it I started to enjoy the sensations I was experiencing. I gave into her touches, relaxing my body. The viper must have taken this as my approval because I felt her hand change direction.

Her hand began moving down. She kept lightly scratching my skin as she worked her way down to the waistband of my pants. She started to playfully pluck at it with one of her claws, occasionally sliding a finger under the waistband and rubbing my groin as she plucked away. This teasing was near unbearable. I knew what was coming, but before I could brace myself, she slid her hand into my pants past my waistband and grabbed my junk. It caught me off guard so I tried to protest, but her undulating tongue and soft lips calmed my nerves. She gently kneaded my partially erect member with her scaled hand. Her hand was as warm and as soft as her lips. It was smooth, almost textureless. She took her time, lavishing every part of my pecker with a caressing touch that sent me into euphoria. I felt the creases in her hand bump against my head as it effortlessly gilded back and forth across my cock. I looked into her eyes and saw myself reflected back in them. I bore a look of pure bliss, but something was off. I couldn’t quite place it. What was wrong? Then it hit me, I was looking into the eyes of an alien.

I realized what was happening and woke up from my trance. I bit down on her tongue and thrashed within her grasp like a fish trying desperately to return to the water. I felt her hand leave my pants and her tongue slide out of my mouth. She grabbed my head with both of her hands. She tilted my head to the side, exposing my neck, and opened her maw. Instead of hissing I heard a doorbell sound come out of her mouth. What? Is this a dream?

I sat up from the couch and scanned the room. I was in my house, and not back at the limo. My body was soaked with sweat, and my heart felt like it was bouncing around in my chest. The tv was still on, playing some show I didn’t care about.

I turned the tv off and leaned forward, rubbing my temples. “Fuck, that was terrible. I wish I didn’t remember it. Did I have the same dream yesterday?” I had a sudden realization about the nature of my dream and cringed. I slowly pulled up my waistband to look in my underwear. Clean and dry, phew, at least I wasn’t gonna have to clean anything up. I’m just gonna forget that dream happened.

The doorbell rang. I raised an eyebrow and looked at my phone. The screen was black. “Damn, guess I didn’t charge it last night.”

I stood up and cracked my back before walking up to the front door. I looked through the peephole and saw that viper from yesterday. “Why in the hell is she here? I wasn’t planning on going anywhere today.” I was anxious about letting her into my house, but my curiosity got the better of me.

I opened the door and put on a smile. “Heyyyy 11-7, what’s up?” May have played it a little too casually.

She cocked her head slightly, flicking her tongue in and out. I looked past her, and saw there were a large number of advent vehicles parked on my street. I lost what little cool I had left. “So, uh you guys having a... a, uh party or something? Heh.”

She squinted her eyes. “No, they are here to help me move in. Did your manager not inform you? You look like you woke up recently.” Now that she reminded me, Manny did message me last night.

Oh thank god. I thought Advent found out something there for a minute. “As a matter of fact, I did just get out of bed. Why, you need my help?”

She crossed her arms and gestured behind me. “If you left the doorway that would be helpful.”

I couldn’t think of anything clever to say back, so I just went back to the living room and sat on the couch. I sighed, damn I guess this really is happening. Oh well, maybe I won’t see her so much. Maybe this’ll be like when I had the troopers guarding me. I watched 11-7 slither over to the kitchen and set her plasma rifle on the counter.

She looked at me and gestured to the rifle. “May I set this here?”

I laughed. “Leaving a high-powered rifle on the same surface I use to make sandwiches, sure, why not.”

“Okay.” She slithered over next to the couch and faced the door. I guess she doesn’t get sarcasm yet.

Three advent troopers walked in carrying a folded mattress that looked bigger than any I had seen. One of the troopers spoke to 11-7 in advent. She spoke back and looked at me. “Where will my quarters be?”

I thought for a few moments. I did not want miss, assuming she isn’t married, giant slithery snake sleeping anywhere near me, but I couldn’t make it obvious. I looked back at her. “Well there is an open room across from me, but there are a couple bedrooms in the basement and it’s wide open. You’d even have your own bathroom down there.”

She nodded. “I’ll take the room across from your room. I can come to your aid faster if there’s trouble.”

Shit. I faked a smile. “Great. Why don’t you just sleep in my room at that point, huh. Might give you an even better response time.” I mumbled that second part to myself.

11-7 gave me a weird look, but didn’t say anything. Instead, she refocused on the troopers moving her stuff inside. She slithered over to the troopers and directed them. Good, at least I didn’t have to do anything. I turned on the tv and watched them out of the corner of my eye. I saw them carrying in a lot of things, some of them I could identify, others I could not. They brought in some kind of giant heat pad that was a similar size to that mattress, clothes, some pieces of tech, and a lot of boxes.

I got bored quickly and watched tv for a while. Over half an hour had passed and they were still bringing in stuff. I looked over to see 2 troopers carrying a large white bathtub. It was probably three times the size of the one in my bathroom.

I stood up and walked over to 11-7. “Woah, woah! What’s this? Manny didn’t say anything about remodeling my house.”

She said something to the troopers and they stopped walking. She turned around to face me and squinted her eyes. “Do you honestly think I can clean myself in that minuscule tub? I am surprised you fit in it.”

I furrowed my brow and pointed at the tub. “I did not agree to this.”

She cocked her head slightly, flicking her tongue out slower. “But you did?” She paused for a few moments before speaking again. “Not to worry, Advent will be covering the cost of all installations. You will not be charged.” She seemed pleased with herself for coming up with that response.

I sighed and waved a hand dismissively. “Whatever, I guess a bigger bathtub isn’t a big deal. Is there any other remodeling I should be made aware of?”

She said something in Advent to the troopers, and they went back to work. She thought for a few moments. “We’ll be putting a large freezer in the basement to store meat. Will that be a problem?”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t really go into the basement anyway, but why would you need so much meat storage? Are you a carnivore or something?”

She made a sound that was like a mixture between a laugh and a hiss. Hard to describe, but it sounded like someone was trying to drown a snake in a shallow pot of chili. “You don’t think I live off of fruit, do you?” She kept laughing like that after she finished. I started to get visibly uncomfortable; she noticed and stifled her laughter. “You eat meat as well.”

“I guess I do.”

She craned her head to look over her shoulder. There weren’t any troopers in the room. She looked back at me. “Don’t be concerned, as long as Advent keeps me fed I won’t get any strange ideas. Go back to watching the television, you don’t have anything to worry about.” I think that was her idea of a joke, but since it involved eating me it didn’t really make me feel better. After she finished speaking she flashed a smile at me, and went back to directing the troopers.

I don’t know why, but I believed her. It's not like they were redecorating my whole house, and a bigger tub would be nice. Never could fully submerge myself in a regular sized bathtub. I suppose we have our own rooms, so It’s not like I’ll be around her all hours of the day. I shrugged and went back to watching tv. The troopers kept marching around my house, moving things and remodeling the bathroom. A many hours later they packed everything up. I saw 11-7 slither into her new room after they all left. Good, looks like I get the livingroom to myself.

I flicked through the channels for a while until I found the movie Predator playing. My parents had told me about this movie before, but I don’t remember much of what they said besides this one was different from the original. I’ve never seen the original, but this one is about an elite squad of Advent soldiers being sent to rescue some vips from rebels. After defeating all of the rebels, one survives and sabotages their transport, leaving them stranded. The rebel hunts them down, killing them one by one until the main character cleverly defeats him.

Overall, not a bad movie, so I started watching it. Partway in I heard some thumping noises coming from 11-7’s room. I turned down the volume and looked over at her door. I listened, but I didn’t hear anything else, so I went back to my movie. A couple minutes passed and I heard her door open. I rolled my eyes. Great, I had reserved myself for an extraterrestrial-less evening, but it seems that I accidentally made the reservation for two. It's bad enough that she’s sleeping next to my room, but now she’s actually coming out of her room and into my house.

As she slithered into view I saw she wasn’t wearing her armor anymore, and in its place she wore a plain white tank top. She also wasn’t wearing pants, which, I mean, how could a snake-like being wear pants, and it’s not like her armor covered her waist or anything. This tank top is technically covering more of her body than her armor did, but seeing her in that tank top somehow made her look more naked. I couldn’t help but notice her more feminine features stretching the fabric of her tank top as she passed in front of the tv. Oh, who am I fooling with this bullshit, I was staring at her tits. They weren’t huge, but they were certainly big enough to draw my attention. I watched her sit down on the couch a few feet away from me. My couch was one of those large L shaped ones, so she draped her tail... body? over the unoccupied space.

I continued to stare as she raised her arms up in the air and stretched. Her whole body tensed up and I saw the muscles in her tail flex. Taking into account her similarity to a snake and her size, that tail was strong. Strong enough to... I don’t want to think about that. I heard the tip of her tail slap the couch a few times, which caught my attention. I looked back at her to see her thrusting her chest out while she stretched, drawing my attention to her breasts further. Was she doing this on purpose? A dirty thought suddenly crossed my mind, and I had to take a step back. Oh fuck, what is wrong with me? Did I really just think that? What even are the moral implications of such a thing?

I hadn’t realized it, but I was deep in thought and still staring at 11-7. She spoke up. “Are you even watching the television?” I was until you and your stupid humanlike snake tits decided to show up.

My face felt hot and I snapped my head forward to face the tv. “Uh, yeah. It’s Predator, you ever seen it?” I hope she lets me change the subject.

I watched her through the corner of my vision. She squinted her eyes, flicking her tongue out more slowly than usual. “No... I have not. We do not get to experience much entertainment on duty.”

I tried to look over at her and while my intentions were pure, my mind wasn’t. My eyes were magnetized to her boobs. I had to force myself to look back up at her eyes. “That sucks. Well, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. I’ll turn up the volume” I spat that out as quick as I could and turned up the volume using the remote. She definitely noticed that time.

If 11-7 noticed me staring at her womanly features she didn’t make it known to me. She faced forward, engrossing herself in the movie. Oh that’s nice, well time for an existential crisis.

Why the hell did I just do that... again. Am I really getting turned on by this thing sitting next to me? I don’t even know how old she is. She could be like 5 years old. I mean for god’s sake she’s a fucking alien, not a human. An alien who’s not repulsive looking, and believe me I’ve seen plenty of the freakshows Advent parades around. If anything she’s not bad looking. No, there’s no way I could even know if she looks good, we aren’t the same species, hell aren’t even in the same class. She’s a reptile... probably, and I’m a mammal. Wait, why do I care if she looks good? Whatever, I still can’t even be sure if she’s female, I’m not an alien biologist. Maybe I could figure it out?

I looked away from the movie and back at her. She was still focused on the movie, so I carefully studied her body. Unfortunately what I saw didn’t help me calm down. She had curves in all the right places. Her body was lithe and toned. There was a sort of smooth gracefulness to her figure that I could appreciate. I looked down at where her torso bent at the couch and she even had hips. I don’t even know how she was sitting on the couch comfortably. I’ve never seen a snake sit like that. Of course there were her boobs, which were still present and accounted for. I looked up at her head, and I realized something else. That hood she had didn’t touch her shoulders, and was positioned like hair on a person. I imagined her head without it, and she looked bald. The scales on her body looked soft, and probably didn’t act as a natural armor, like I had assumed. The scales on her arms and back were diamond shapes, but the ones running from her throat down to the tip of her tail were more like long and thin plates. I watched the plates flex as she adjusted her position on the couch. The plates weren’t straight though, they had a point in the center. I noticed they weren’t flat either, the points were slightly elevated. Those points made it look like she had a seam running from below her hips to the tip of her tail. What purpose it served I couldn’t say, but if I’m going with my hair hood theory, then that seam might be meant to mimic legs. I don’t get it, there seems to have been deliberate efforts to humanize these Vipers by the Elders, but to what end? Even if the Elders were trying to humanize them, I don’t think most people would be able to get past the whole giant snake thing. What with the 5 inch long fangs, resting bitch face, and the ability to crush your ribcage like a soda can. I guess I can’t be sure if it was intentional.

To conclude my analysis, oh fuck, she’s shaped like a legless supermodel with a snake-like face in a hoodie. Yeah, for the sake of my own sanity, I’m just gonna assume she’s female. But, is there really a girl sitting like 5 ft away from me right now? Am I sharing my house with a girl now? I hadn’t really considered the implications of this until now.

11-7 made a noise, so I looked up at her face. She looked away from the movie and pointed at it. “Did you see that? That human just got blown up! This is amazing, I can see why you humans spend so much time staring at these machines.”

You know, I’d like to get blown... I shook my head violently to remove that thought from my brain.

She scanned me with her eyes. “Are you ok? You are acting strange and radiating a large amount of heat.” No, I’m not ok. I’ve got to get ahold of myself. If she can sense heat I’m already fucked. Would that be so bad? No. Stop.

I smiled and rubbed the back of my head. “Uh, yeah I’m fine. I’ve just got to uh... go to the bathroom.”

She raised an eyebrow and started saying something, but I ignored her and ran into the bathroom.

I quickly shut and locked the door. I flicked on the lights and looked around my bathroom. That new tub Advent put in was bigger in person, the damn thing took up half the bathroom. It was right up against the toilet, but it looked like I still had enough room to sit on it. Nice of Advent to be so courteous, I’d hate to have to shit standing up.

I looked at myself in the mirror. My face was kinda red and moist with sweat. I can’t believe that just happened. What would my parents think, me being guarded by an alien, much less having one move into my house and lusting after it. Yeah, that’d just be one more thing to add to the list of things they didn’t approve of. Curse my stupid primitive brain, getting me worked up over something that just mimics the female form and isn’t even human. Ugh, why did it have to be an alien? Why couldn’t I get a cute human girl to guard me? Well, I wouldn’t get a human, I’d get one of those hybrids, but at least that would be partially human. Hell I could always order the hybrid to never take off her helmet and pretend she was human. But instead, I get this serpent of temptation.

I sighed, wiping the sweat off my face with my hand and shaking it off. This is probably my fault, I clearly need to go outside and interact with people more. Even before all this terrorist bullshit I never did get out of the house much. I turned on the faucet, and splashed some cold water on my face. I shouldn’t get too comfortable around her; she’s definitely spying on me for Advent, and I can’t have her tattling on me. If I give Advent any sort of blackmail material I know they won’t hesitate to use it. My friend Carson told me about how he was forced to star in Advent educational videos for half a year because he got caught sleeping with a prostitute in between shooting scenes for an upcoming movie. Yeah, he’s one of those people. It wasn’t a terrible punishment, all things considered, but what rubs me the wrong way is he didn’t choose to do it. Things like that tread the fine line between us VIPs being celebrities, and being camera slaves.

I reached for a towel and dried my face. It wasn’t red anymore, and my heartbeat was back to normal. I think I’ve had enough time to cool down. Looks like I’m actually fine; I got all freaked out over nothing. I’m not a xenophile or anything. I’m just lonely and have a little cabin fever. This probably will never bother me again. I could just go hide in my room for the rest of the night. I do feel better now, but no. I’ve got to go back out there and prove I’m not a degenerate.

I turned off the light and returned to my spot on the couch. 11-7 looked at me, but didn’t turn her head away from the tv screen. I sat down and ignored her alluring humanlike body. Instead I focused my attention on the movie.

Unfortunately, that only lasted a few seconds because the moment I got comfortable she said something. “You didn’t flush the toilet.”

“Huh?” I said, not really paying attention to her.

“Why didn’t you flush the toilet?” I looked over at her and she was staring at me.

Why is she so observant? ”What, were you listening to me or something?”

Her hood retracted a little, and her eyes widened. “No, I just noticed it.”

Great, I hope she didn’t hear anything else. Sometimes I get so lost in my thoughts I just start talking outloud. “No, I didn’t flush. Why do you care exactly?”

11-7 scrunched up her face and leaned her head back. “That’s disgusting.”

I smirked and leaned back on the couch. “Yeah, well get used to it. This is my house, and I’m not leaving the seat down for you either.”

She leaned over, closing the gap between us a little. “No need. I can’t fall in.” She looked me up and down. “unlike you.”

I really don’t want to know how she uses that toilet, but I’m definitely going to start cleaning it before I sit down. “Whatever, you enjoying the movie?”

Her face lit up. “Oh Yess, I am. It’s like I’m watching someone else’s assignment, it’s exciting. But there is something I don’t understand.”

It’s a pretty simple movie, so I was actually curious what she didn’t understand. “Oh yeah, what is it? I could probably explain it; I’ve seen this movie before.”

“I don’t understand the human rebel character, the Predator.”

“What about it don’t you understand?”

“It is impressive that he can hunt down an elite Advent squad by himself. He is the important character, but I am not learning much about him.”

“Um, well... He is the bad guy? You’re not supposed to want to empathize with him. I mean he is fighting against Advent?”

11-7 put her hand up to her chin, and looked at the ground in thought for a while. She looked back up at me. “I’m aware of which side he is on. I just wanted to see how he hunted, so I could become better at hunting these rebels. I could have given some intel to my superiors if I saw it. You should always understand your enemy.”

I just sat there awestruck listening to this long tube with arms and tits blabber on about nothing. “What the hell are you talking about? This isn’t real, it was made up.”

She cocked her head. “Not... real?” She paused for a few moments. “What do you mean?”

I facepalmed and gestured at the tv as I spoke. “It’s entertainment, all these people are actors, I’ve actually met the guy who played the predator before and he’s not actually a rebel.”

She squinted her eyes and her pupils contracted. “Sso, you humans go out and pretend you are doing things in front of a camera to record it for others to watch?”

“Yeah, it’s a big business too; I’m actually a part of it. I’m an actor, I guess you’d call me a professional pretender. Didn’t you know that?”

She crossed her arms. “When I was briefed my superiors told me you were an asset worth protection, nothing more. So you do this too. It seems pointless.”

“You said you were enjoying the movie, that’s the point of it.”

She still had confusion plastered over her face. “You just watch it and move on to the next one. Is there no purpose beyond that?”

She really is clueless isn’t she. “Well, it’s not that simple, there is more to it than just watching. You can analyze parts of the movie, and ask questions like you did before. You can find characters you relate to and root for them. You could project yourself onto one of the characters and ask what you would do in that situation. Sometimes there’s a lesson to be learned from a movie. It’s more complex than what I’m saying, but you get what you want out of a movie. Multiple people can watch the same movie and take different things away from it.”

She pondered what I said for a bit before responding. “I think I understand.”

I smiled. “Do you now? Who’s your favorite character then?”

She pointed at one of the characters on the tv. It was a large buff man giving a monologue. “I like him, the human leader called Dutch.”

“Why do you like him?”

She was quiet for a few moments. “He’s brave and capable. His other squad members are breaking down, but despite his fears he tries to keep the squad together and keep the others alive. It is... admirable.”

I nodded. “Maybe you do understand.” I went back to watching the movie.

I was fine with finishing the movie without more talking, but 11-7 apparently wasn’t. “What is your favorite character, Lucas?”

It was strange hearing her use my first name. I’m used to most people calling me Mr. Hickey. It’s always refreshing to hear it, reminds me I’m not working. “Uh, same as you. I like Dutch.”

She looked at me expectantly for a few moments before responding. “Why do you like him?”

I thought about my answer before responding. “You know, he’s your standard action hero. Confident, contagious, strong. He’s out there fighting for what he believes in, and winning. Defending his friends and fighting against evil.” I sighed. “Sometimes I wish things like this were as black and white in real life as they are portrayed in movies.” Shit, did I really say that last part out loud?

I looked over at 11-7. She seemed to be pondering what I had just said, but her face gave me no hint of what she was thinking. She didn’t respond, she only nodded at me, and we finished the movie without talking further. I probably should have been scared that she was going to report me or something, but what would she even tell them. When the credits started rolling I yawned and told her I was going to bed. I showed her how to use the remote and went to my room.

My house did not feel so empty anymore, but at what cost? My sanity for one thing, half my couch, and one bedroom. Maybe the cost wasn’t too great, I did get a free bathtub out of the deal. I guess the saying is true: Be careful what you wish for because you might just get exactly what you ask for. I chuckled to myself as I plugged my phone in. No more “incidents” tonight after I gave myself that pep talk in the bathroom, guess I really am not a xenophile. I crawled into bed, feeling quite comfortable for once. Hopefully no nightmares tonight.


	5. Chapter 5

My alarm was going off. I sat up in my bed covered in sweat again, and reached over to shut it off. I couldn’t remember much of my dreams now, just a vague memory of being captured by terrorists and beaten with sticks. Though I’m sure there was a part where I shot that guy in the limo again, and got diddled by a viper shortly after. God damn this sucks. I really need to get out of the house today. 

Normally the feeling of cool air brushing against my skin would help wake me up, but my room was sweltering, much more heat than I was used to. I looked over at the thermostat in my room and it read 82 degrees F. Dammit, now she’s fucking with the thermostat; that is where I draw the line. I threw on a pair of pants and rushed out of my bedroom. I saw the door to 11-7’s room was open, so I went out to the livingroom. As I got closer the smell of cooked eggs and bacon wafted towards me. Course, I knew it wasn’t really eggs and bacon, but imitation eggs and bacon usually tasted and smelled like it. I also heard what sounded like a cooking show playing on the tv.

She wasn’t on the couch, so I looked in the kitchen and saw her cooking on the electric stove, using some of the eggs and bacon I had delivered to me a week ago. I was planning on cooking myself a decent breakfast with them, but never got around to it. It was quite the sight to behold: her scraping at the pan with a spatula, and humming a tune cheerfully. It wasn’t one I had heard before. It sounded whimsical, and had no discernible pattern to it. She was dancing to the tune, I think. She was swaying back and forth in waves starting from her head, and going down to where her body touched the floor. I was mesmerized by how fluid and smooth the motion of her body was. She looked like she was doing a dance you might see a snake do for her snake charmer. Except she was dancing to her own tune, and I was the one who was charmed. 

That smell started to get to me, which shook me from my trance. My stomach growled in anticipation as I walked up to her. I was about 2 feet away from her, and she still hadn’t noticed my presence, so I cleared my throat to get her attention. 

“Oh!” She stopped moving, and I saw the tip of her tail go erect for a split second. She turned her head around to look at me, still managing what was in the pan. “Good morning, Lucas. Did you sleep well?” She was wearing my white apron and a black t-shirt underneath it.

I wanted to yell at her about the thermostat, but my stomach got the better of me. “You can cook?”

11-7 giggled. “No, not before this morning.” She pointed over at the tv with her tail. “I started watching these cooking shows and wanted to try it. They’re very informative, they even showed how to operate the stove.” 

It's a miracle she didn’t burn the house down while I was sleeping. “Oh, that’s nice. Is that for me?” I pointed at the meat cooking in the pan. 

She made a gargled hissing noise after I pointed at the pan. “You must be hungry. Sorry, but I made this for myself.” Then she abandoned her post and slithered over to me. “But... if you ask nicely I might make some for you too.” 

She smiled at me, and normally her being this close would unnerve me, but my hunger steeled my resolve. “Could you please make me some breakfast 11-7?” I even clasped my hands together to seal the deal.

She pretended to ponder my request for a few moments. “Since you asked so nicely, I can arrange it. Now go sit down, it will be ready soon.” She pointed at the couch with the spatula she was holding in her hand. 

I sat down on the couch, and a few minutes later I was dining on some bland imitation scrambled eggs and bacon. It would seem she didn’t pay attention to the parts of the cooking show when they seasoned what they were making. The eggs were a little on the brown side, but not burnt, and the bacon was crispy. She could have done worse, and it was still better than cereal. I threw a little salt and pepper on mine. 

11-7 downed her’s instantly, like how she usually eats, which still was both gross and impressive. The plate she handed me was filled to the brim. She probably cooked all the eggs and bacon that I had in my fridge. I looked over at her, and she was watching me eat through the corner of her eye. Her appetite is near insatiable, reminds me of myself. I put in a valiant effort, but I couldn’t even finish half of what she handed me. Once I started to slow down I felt hungry eyes watching me with great interest. I didn’t even look at her, I just handed the plate over to her, and felt her grab it. A few seconds later I heard her set the plate down. 

With my hunger satiated, my rational mind started to take over again. I looked over at her angrily. “So, why’d you turn the heat on?”

She looked at me and her pupils dilated. “You keep it cold in here. I’m cold-blooded, you don’t want me to freeze to death, do you?” She tilted her head down and raised her eyebrows. 

Honest to god, she was trying to pull the puppy dog eyes routine. Well, the giant cobra-like humanoid eyes routine. Just how much does she know about human expression? In any case I had already eaten her bargaining chip, so I was not budging. “Don’t pull that bullshit, I know you’re not cold-blooded. I’ve seen your kind out patrolling in the freezing rain, wearing nothing but that armor that barely covers your chest.”

She snorted and looked surprised. “Alright, so you know of my species. Yes my sisters and I are partially warm-blooded, but I can not get warm as easily as you can.”

“Don’t care, it’s my house. Throw on a blanket or something, I’ve got like five of them in the closet over there.” I pointed to the closet in the hallway that led to our rooms. “Should be enough to cover yourself.”

She crossed her arms, and pouted her lips. I didn’t even know she had that much control over her lips. “Fine, but don’t expect me to cook you breakfast again.”

I just realized I didn’t even say thank you for breakfast. “Look, I appreciate the breakfast and I understand that you didn’t have to do it, but you’ve been acting very casual since you moved in. I thought you were gonna be a hardass when I first met you, but now you act like this house is your’s. Not wearing your armor, messing with my thermostat, and you could have burnt down the house while cooking breakfast.”

11-7 looked a little sad after I finished my rant, and her hood contracted. “I’m sorry, this place is nicer than the barracks I was stationed in, and I was enjoying not having my superiors ordering me around. Your concerns are noted, but I am not wearing my armor unless we leave neighborhood D18, it is not very comfortable. I’d rather not wear anything, but my superiors told me I should wear these shirts so you don’t get uncomfortable.”

Did she just say she wants to be naked 24/7? Focus Lucas. “Ok, so let’s compromise then. Keep wearing your shirts, and don’t use the oven unless I am awake. Thermostat stays where I had it before, I get hot easily.” 

She thought over what I said and nodded. “I’ll respect your wishes, but that wasn’t a compromise.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“What did you give up at your inconvenience?” 

I’m honestly starting to believe she might be more intelligent than I’ve given her credit for. Even still she’s my guard, not a houseguest. “I’m not making you wear your armor, and I’m letting you use the oven even though you have no training.”

She stuck her chin up proudly. “I used it today with no trouble.”

I looked over at the oven, and back to her. “Did you remember to turn the stove off?”

She squinted her eyes and suddenly got a serious look on her face. She slithered over to the oven. She moved so fast all I saw was an orange blur, and then she was at the oven fiddling with one of the dials on it. Now that was funny, but holy shit is she fast. If I blinked I might’ve missed her standing up. Kind of cute how she gets so worked up over... Right, I still need to get out of the house. What sort of bullshit can I make up?

I got up and walked over to the oven. She was still having trouble with the dial. I cleared my throat to get her attention. She looked at me and moved away. “Like this. Turn it left until it clicks to turn it off. Turn it right to increase the heat.” 

She nodded excitedly. I passed her and walked to the fridge. I opened the door and pretended to look for something. Wait, where’s my leftovers? I didn’t eat them yet. “Did you eat my burger?”

She did not respond, she just avoided looking me in the eyes. 

“You’re lucky you made me breakfast because if you didn’t I would reach down your gullet and take my sandwich back out of you right now.” I made a grabbing motion at her head, and she scrunched up her face.

“I'm joking. You don’t have to take everything I say so seriously, but don’t eat my leftovers again.” She relaxed after I said that. 

I went back to fake looking in the fridge. “Dammit, I’m out of... French onion dip. Looks like I’ll have to make a trip to the grocery store.” 

She looked at me and squinted her eyes, flicking her tongue out slow. “You humans have a fast metabolism.” 

“Uh, it’s not for right now, it’s for later, but we should go now. I don’t want to wait for it to be delivered by Advent, and no time to call for a ride.” Hopefully this will take a long time. 

“You want to leave now?”

“Yeah, is that a problem?”

She shook her head. “I will get my equipment then.”

11-7 went to her room, and I threw on a shirt. Few minutes later we were walking down the sidewalk of my suburban neighborhood towards the gate that separated us from the city. Well, I was doing the walking, 11-7 was slithering. I watched her body undulate parallel against the ground. It’s impressive how fast she can move without legs. The walk up to the gate was uneventful, but some of my neighbors gave me weird looks. It didn’t surprise me, it’s not like I had the time to tell everyone in the neighborhood about my new bodyguard. In fact, I don’t think I’ve told any of them yet. 

I lived away from the gate, so I could pretend I lived in a normal neighborhood, but getting close to it reminded me that I lived in a compound. 10ft tall concrete walls, turrets everywhere, with armed guards patrolling 24/7, and it wasn’t just regular troopers, there were some psionic ones too. 

I saw the gate exit on the sidewalk, and walked up to the scanner. It was a tall black pole with extensions up top that the scanners were in. These things check for weapons, illegal paraphernalia, that sort of a thing. I watched the Advent troopers as the red beam moved over my body. I got curious about how they worked one time, and looked up at the beam. I was temporarily blinded by it, and haven’t been curious since. A trooper walked up to me and scanned my phone. “Where are you traveling, Mr. Hickey? You have no plans for today.” 

Oh shit, I must have forgotten to fill out the paperwork to leave my - goddamn - house. What is this, the Soviet Union? These guys better not give me a hard time. “Going to the grocery store with my guard.” I pointed back at 11-7 with my thumb. “It’ll be a short trip.”

The advent trooper talked on his coms in Advent. He was silent for a few moments, then he waved us through. “Get what you need and return.”

I was already starting to feel better. The fresh air and seeing people walking around was just what I needed. Initially I was enjoying the trip because people were giving us a wide berth, and normally the traffic is terrible. But the whole way there I kept getting more weird looks. There were even a few people that looked disgusted with me. It’s not like 11-7 was my first choice, and I didn’t like her much initially, but it was starting to wear on me a little. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, but it’s not like I can turn back now; we were already there.

The grocery store was huge, it was probably one of those big chain ones before the invasion, and was repurposed by Advent after the invasion. We walked inside past the sliding automatic doors. The building itself was bland, basically a big warehouse with a steel ceiling lit with industrial fluorescent lights, and floored with sterile white linoleum tiles. There were plenty of colorful advertisements dotting the aisles and signs hanging from the ceiling, so you couldn’t get lost. I don’t know what I expected, but the customers were giving me weird looks too. Now I’m mad, not because they’re looking at me weird, but because they don’t seem to be directing any of their looks at 11-7. At this point I’m just gonna get the dip and leave. 

As we made our way to the chip aisle, we passed a family pushing around a shopping cart. Father, mother and two kids. While passing them the mother casually put herself between the kids and us.

I shook my head, and looked back at 11-7. “Being a bit dramatic there don’t ya think?” She looked at me and shrugged. I guess she was used to this kind of attention more than I was. 

I saw the sign for the chip aisle and made my way to the potato chips. I reached for a bag of standard potato chips, and I felt 11-7 back up into me. I looked at the back of her head and saw her hood was flaring out. 

“Woah 11-7, what’s up.”

She leaned her head over to me, but didn’t take her eyes off of the target. “An adolescent male was running towards you.” Then she returned her head to its usual position. “Leave the area, or I will be authorized to use lethal force.”

“Woah, Chill, that’s not necessary. What do you want?” I asked the guy I couldn’t see.

I saw a young man sidestep into view. He kept his distance from 11-7, and from me.

He looked both scared and excited. I’m sure a giant humanoid cobra brandishing a plasma rifle threatening you with lethal force wasn’t helping with that, but since he didn’t run away immediately that must mean he’s got something important to say. He looked rather unassuming, dressed in sweatpants, a t-shirt, and he was wearing a Starship Rangers hat. Starship Rangers was a Sci-fi movie that had its story continued with a tv show. I played a character in the movie. He took a deep breath and spoke. “Are you Lucas... Lucas Hickey? The guy who played Captain Wilkins in Starship Rangers?” 

That made my day. I don’t get recognized too often by fans, and I was more than happy to humor him. “Why yes, I am. Now cadet, who are you, and who cleaned your uniform?”

He must have really appreciated that line because he laughed so hard he snorted. “Private Cody reporting for duty sir.” He put his hand up in a space cadet salute, and we both laughed. 11-7 gave us some space and was eyeing us both curiously. “I love Starship Rangers, and Captain Wilkins is my favorite character. Could I uh, get your autograph, please?”

“Sure, got something to write with, and something to sign?”

“I was actually buying some permanent markers for labeling, I’m sure they won’t mind if I open them early. Here, sign my hat.” He yanked his hat off his head and presented it to me.

I grabbed the hat and a marker and wrote “Cadet Cody. Forever forwards, never backwards (Starship Rangers slogan), and signed my name. “Here ya go.”

He was giddy with excitement and snatched the hat from me, putting it on his head as fast as he could. “Thank you so much, I can’t wait to tell my friends about this.” 

“You’re welcome. Always happy to meet a fan, but I better not see that hat up for sale on the internet tonight.”

He nodded, but instead of leaving he paused and took his time looking 11-7 over and then looked back at me. He started snickering to himself as he spoke. “Don’t worry about what other people think; If I was you, I would have done the same thing. I’m even a little jealous.”

I wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but he scuttled off down the aisle. Just a weirdo I guess. I’d had more than enough weird for today, but I had only half of what I needed.

It took less time to reach the dairy isle. I was still getting weird looks, but meeting that fan energized me. As I located the dip 11-7 tapped me on my shoulder. “That human over there has been taking pictures of you.”

“Huh” I looked over to where she gestured, and sure enough there was a guy with a camera standing partially behind a stack of 12 packs of soda.

She continued to point at him. “Do you want me to deal with him?”

I chuckled. “Oh, no. I’m flattered, I didn’t think I was important enough for paparazzi.” I yelled over to the guy. “Hey guy you don’t have to hide! You can take all the pictures you want! You want an autograph?” 

The man stepped out from behind the soda and walked towards me. He looked as sleazy as a used car salesman with a haircut to match. Dressed in a greasy polo and cargo shorts. He seemed surprised that I called to him, but walked up to me all the same.

I’ve never really dealt with paparazzi before, so I just decided to be direct. “Is there like a pose you want or something?” 

The man smiled. “Well, if you’d be so kind, could I get a picture of you next to your bodyguard there?” He pointed at 11-7.

I was a bit confused. “I guess, but why do you care about my bodyguard? Aren’t you here to take pictures of me?”

The man positioned himself to get a shot of both me and 11-7, and took a few pictures. “Well uh, I was just trying to get a few shots of the Advent snake fucker and his lover together.” 

My mind went blank. “Excuse me, what?” 

He kept looking through his camera. “Now gimme a shot of you two kissin or huggin or somethin.”

What? I looked at 11-7. She looked just as confused as me. Suddenly what he was saying clicked in my head, and it really pissed me off. “Get him the fuck away from me, 11-7.”

She hissed, slithering forward, she shoved the paparazzi guy with the side of her rifle, which knocked him down to the floor. 

He climbed to his feet and shouted as he ran away. “Geeze, you asked.” 

She tensed up and looked ready to pursue him. “It’s not worth it. He didn't commit a crime, it’s not like he can be arrested.”

What the hell was going on. Is that why I’ve been getting weird looks all day? I went onto the internet on my phone and looked up my name. A bunch of recently made articles popped up about me. Turns out someone got pictures of me and 11-7 together when I went to Advent Burger, and all these articles have labeled it as a date since we ate together. I scrolled through article after article, in horror, reading theoretical gossip about my love life. They said my personal life is a mystery to the general public and connected that to my new bodyguard. Apparently she is the only “woman” I’ve been seen in public with for a long time, and I guess that means that eating and chatting with my fucking bodyguard was a date. I’m not going to try to understand their logic here because there is none. I don’t really know how to say this, but to put it bluntly I’ve been branded as a Viper fucker by the media. Dammit, I was just trying to make sure Advent didn’t find out I withheld information in my report, I didn’t want any of this. 

Life just isn’t fair, why is this happening. I specifically wanted to get away from this and now it’s being thrown in my face. I’ve gotta get into contact with Manny to talk about this. He... he can fix this, but first I gotta get home.

11-7 put her hand on my shoulder. “Are you ok Lucas?”

I shoved her hand off me. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s just get the dip and leave.” I wasn’t leaving empty handed, especially after all this humiliation. Every single person that gave me a weird look today thinks I’m boning my bodyguard. Bastards, I’ll skin every single one of these journalists myself.

I was checked out by a cute cashier, so I smiled at her. In response she rolled her eyes at me. I couldn’t even get a smile back. 

The walk home was more humiliating than I had expected. I was no longer ignorant to why people looked at me, and every face I saw was etched into my mind. Could I blame them for their disgust, no. I’d heard of scandals like this before, but they were few and far between. And I’ve never heard of a celebrity doing something like this. What made it worse was that I couldn’t be mad at them. The general population only knows what they are told, it’s the media’s fault for tarnishing my reputation.

Even though I know the Advent troopers could care less about anything other than their job, I couldn’t help but feel like they too were judging me when I passed through the gate to my neighborhood. 

Finally we reached my house. I opened up the door and sat on the couch slouching in defeat. I heard 11-7 shut the front door and lock it. I looked up and watched her slither towards her room. As she moved past she cast a sympathetic glance my way, but did not say anything. I held my head in my hands and looked at the carpeted floor. Where to begin? I suppose I should call Manny, but if he’s any good at his job he probably already knows... and he told me nothing about it. 

I dialed Manny’s number and called. I heard it ring three times and he picked up.

“Mr. Hickey, I was wondering when you would call.”

I’d love to argue with Manny about why he didn’t tell me, but he’s been my manager since the beginning, so I knew it wouldn’t be productive. “Cut the crap Manny. What the hell is going on?”

I heard Manny chuckle through the receiver. “Well Mr. Hickey, I think the articles speak for themselves. You’ve been fraternizing with Advent property.” 

Yup, back to the same ol’ Manny, never listening to a goddamn thing I say. I’m sure playing these little games is the only pleasure he gets from his miserable existence. “Manny you know they aren’t true. You already know how I feel about alie... non-human earthlings.”

“Yes Mr. Hickey, I’m well aware of your... sentiments. These articles are nothing short of slander.” 

It felt good to know at least one person in this city didn’t think I had a thing for alien snake women. “So, what should we do?”

“You will do nothing, Mr. Hickey. Continue to enjoy your vacation. I, will perform damage control. I believe we may be able to spin this to our advantage, but I will have to get into contact with some of my associates.” 

I’ve been in a lotta situations lately where I’m just helpless. I don’t know why I even bother. “So, I should just do nothing?”

“I did not say to do nothing Mr. Hickey. Remember what we discussed yesterday? You should focus on getting yourself back to functioning form once your vacation is over. Do you understand?” 

Well, at least I’m not under house arrest. “I understand, Manny.”

“Good, if you need anything at all send me a message. I’m going to be very busy for the next few days, and I won't be answering any unexpected phone calls.”

We said our goodbyes and I went back to leaning forward and moping. It sounded like Manny had a plan, but I can’t imagine what it is. I don’t really see how I’ll get out of this one unscathed, I’m finished. I doubt anyone will want the “Advent snake fucker” to be in their movie. I’ll be lucky to land a part as an extra after this. 

My moping was unfortunately interrupted by my monopedal roommate. “Lucas, I heard what you said to your manager. I want to apologize for forcing you to take me into that restaurant. I hadn’t realized you humans liked to gossip so much.” 

I raised my head slightly to look at 11-7. She was out of her armor and in a black tank top. She looked sad and maybe even guilty. Her hood was almost pulled to her head and she was fidgeting around with her hands. Too bad her being sorry wouldn’t help me. This extraterrestrial serpent is what got me in this damn situation in the first place. Sure, if I had a sectoid guarding me it would read my mind, but at least people wouldn’t gossip about whether or not I was fucking it. “You know, for someone who doesn’t have ears, you sure hear a lot.” 

She nodded. “It’s a part of my assignment. If I wasn’t so observant, I would not have been picked.”

Most of my energy had been sapped by the grocery trip, and I didn’t have enough to be angry. So I responded dryly. “That wasn’t a compliment. I meant you are nosy, which is impressive considering you don’t have a nose.”

She looked confused for a few moments before she realized what I was saying. Then she put her hands on her weird human-like hips, and frowned. “I already knew from the articles you looked at. This has made you distressed, do you want to talk about it?” 

The prospect of talking about this with her woke me up. “No! Even if I did want to, you would be the last thing I’d want to talk about it with.”

She snorted upon hearing me say thing, and squinted her eyes. “That is fine, I’ll leave you then. Enjoy your evening alone, Lucas.” I was no stranger to pissing people off, but hearing the word alone this time struck a chord with me. 

As upset as I was, seeing her turn to slither away didn’t sit right with me, and I knew why. The prospect of being alone didn’t seem appealing anymore. I realized that no one would probably want to be around me after reading about me having a Viper fetish. Hell, I already know what my neighbors think, and the general population. I guess I could hang out with the weirdos, like that Cody guy, but I’d rather not. I was about to be well and truly alone. It was something I had experience with, something I understood. Something I despised, but could never really escape. Now it was about to become my reality. Just me and my house, no friends or family, suckling from Advent’s teat until I died. Upon reflection, I decided to not be an asshole, just this one time.

“Hey wait, 11-7.” She halted her movement, and turned to face me. “Look, I uh, didn’t mean all that. I’m just, you know, dealing with a lot of shit, and it keeps piling up.” 

She didn’t look convinced. “That’s no reason to talk down to me. I did not write those articles.” She pointed at my phone as she spoke.

I sighed. “I’m sorry for that too. I know this isn’t your fault, it’s those damn journalists’ fault. Stirring up drama instead of reporting the news that matters. You’ve done your job well. I... I shouldn’t direct my frustration at you.”

11-7 seemed like she was really enjoying my apology. She looked like a kid who was receiving a forced apology courtesy of her parents. When I was finished she seemed to mull it over for a while. “I can forgive you Lucas, but don’t think you can just go back to insulting me after this. My people’s bite is often worse than our bark.” She nipped the air in my general direction and turned to leave. 

Again, I felt a nagging sensation at the back of my mind. What could I want? I already apologized to her; my conscience is clear. Well, I guess it has been a while since I’ve socialized with anyone outside of work, and our interaction last night was not unpleasant. Am I so starved for human interaction, that I’m seriously considering hanging around her? She isn’t even human, so I don’t think that would constitute human interaction. But, it would be better than nothing I suppose, and it’s not like this could affect public image. My curtains are drawn, and my neighbors aren’t gonna visit. Even if someone did find out I doubt it would make things worse than they already are. There’s still plenty of time left today, and I am not going to bed early. The last thing I need right now is more dreams. Maybe she could help distract me from this shit, even if it's just for a few hours. It may be worth a try. 

I saw 11-7 reaching for the doorknob to her room, and decided it was worth a try. “Don’t go just yet. Do you uh, maybe want to watch more movies tonight, or something?

She spun around and squinted her eyes. “And why would you want that?” 

I shrugged and tried to play it off. “I uh... why not. Unless you’re busy with something?”

She cocked her head, and slithered up to me. “I had assumed you wanted to be away from me.” She paused for a few moments. “You’ve already apologized, you do not need to interact with me further. 

“Well uh, you assumed wrong. Now come sit down, or do I have to order you to do that?” she looked cross when I mentioned ordering her. I put my hands up non-threateningly. “I was joking, it was... that was a joke.”

She relaxed her face, and snorted. “You know Lucas, I didn’t expect you to come around like that.” 

Now even she was giving me a weird look, but it wasn’t disgust like everyone else, it was interest. “Well, I’m uh, full of surprises.”

She smiled and sized me up. “I can see that. Tell me, do you like me Lucas?” 

I looked into her dilated crimson eyes, but couldn’t read her intent behind that question. Besides her lips which were curved upwards ever so slightly, her body language gave me no hints either, which made it an even more complicated question to answer. A question like this required a subtle and well thought out response. One that would leave both the questioner and the answerer satisfied. “Of course I do, I haven’t tried to replace you yet, have I?” Dammit, me and my damn mouth. 

She snorted. “No, you haven’t.” She slithered onto the couch. “So, what did you have in mind?” Oh? Seems I spoke too soon.

I shrugged. “I don’t know, I figured I’d flick through channels until we found something that looked good.”

She gestured to the tv. “Start flicking then.” She emphasized the word flicking, which implied she didn’t know what it meant. 

I chuckled and started looking. Eventually I clicked on crappy romantic comedy #503 by accident. I didn’t even see what it was called. I went to change the channel, but 11-7 was interested in it. She wanted to watch it even more when I explained why it was gonna be bad. Saying something about wanting to learn more about how humans interacted. She watched it intently, but I didn’t care for it much. I ended up studying 11-7 instead, watching her reactions to the movie. She laughed at every joke they made, and when I say every joke I mean it. There was some lame joke about the female lead’s mother being a cougar, and she laughed at it. She had a childlike sense of humor, I guarantee if I sat on a whoopee cushion she would probably think it was funny. Guess she wasn’t lying when she said she hasn’t seen much entertainment. 

Honestly, the more I am around her the more human she seems. In the beginning I just assumed she was some kind of Advent attack dog, well attack snake, but she might actually have a personality... and a bad taste in comedies. I suppose it’s a good thing she’s not just a drone. She might be the only person, or alien, that’ll want to hang out with me from now on. Even still, I can’t trust her. It’s not like I can just forget what I’ve seen, and she’s a soldier. She’s not like my neighbors, who I can say off color remarks to and be fine the next day. She’s an agent of Advent. Her loyalties are with them, not me. 

I looked over at her and she was giggling at another stupid joke that the protagonist of this romantic comedy made. She looked so innocent in this moment. No gun, no armor, no hostility, no professionalism. Even her crimson eyes, normally laser focused, had a twinkle to them. She was just someone sitting on a couch and enjoying a subpar film. I know what she is capable of, but can I really say that I know her? She’s still a mystery to me, maybe we could actually be friends. I can usually get a good read on people, but her, I don’t know. I’m sure the whole alien snake thing isn’t helping with that. Seeing as I’ll be stuck with her for a while I should get to know her, but where to even start? It’s difficult to get to know people, but aliens are a whole nother ball game. I’ve worked with Manny for how many years, and all I know is that he’s an asshole who drinks whisky sometimes. Shit the commercials are on, better think of something quick. I guess work is as good a place to start as anything.

11-7 was watching the commercials, oblivious to my scheming. “So uh, where were you stationed before this?”

She turned her head to face me. She squinted her eyes and slowly flicked her tongue out. That twinkle in her eyes was gone. “Why are you interested in that, Lucas?” 

Maybe asking something related to Advent operations isn’t the best way to start off. “Oh, uh. I’m just making conversation. You know, small talk.”

She scrutinized me. It felt like she was trying to locate an inkling of proof that I had ill intentions. After a few moments she seemed satisfied. “I was stationed at base #45, it is located here in the city.”

I waited for her to elaborate, but she didn’t. “What did you do at base 45? If you don’t mind me asking.” 

She inspected me again, this time taking longer to do so, and again she seemed satisfied with her investigation. “I was assigned to patrol different sections of the city, sometimes deployed when conflict arose.”

“So, uh, what was that like?”

She didn’t examine me this time, she just looked confused. “I don’t understand.”

Ugh, she must not talk to people very much. “I mean, what did you do specifically, and did you enjoy it?”

“Enjoy... it?”

“Yeah, you’re enjoying the movies, right?” I pointed at the tv. “Did you enjoy your work?”

She looked away from me and back at the movie, but she wasn’t watching it. She was silent for a few moments before responding. “I enjoy combat, but patrols are boring. Nothing ever happened on patrol.”

Now we’re getting somewhere. “What was your housing like?” 

“Do you mean quarters?”

“Yes”

“Bunkhouse, we were crammed together in one building. Each species had their own bunkhouse, all kept separate. Viper bunkhouse was far from entrance to base.”

“Interesting, what was that like? Being it a bunkhouse.”

She shook her head. “Bad, no room, bed was stiff, all showered together. No free time for us, only work. Food was bad, but not terrible.”

Sounds about right. That probably was standard military life for human soldiers before the war. “Can’t say I’d want to live like that. My apartment was pretty bad before I got this place.”

She cocked her head. “You lived somewhere else before?”

“Yeah, I used to live in a shitty two bedroom apartment with... myself, and I worked at a small arms factory. Made weapons like the one you carry around.” Let’s not open that can of worms now. 

She looked surprised. “Engineer of weapons. That is a respectable job, a necessary one.”

“Well, I didn’t design them. - I just built them.”

She nodded. “Fabrication is just as important.” 

Wow, some actual appreciation for my old job; she’s gonna make me blush. “So, you were all kept in separate bunkhouses, huh? Must be weird sharing a house with a human then.”

She took some time to answer. “It has been interesting. You are strange, but I like it here better than the barracks.”

Strange? What does that mean? Did she notice the desire, or the fear? “I’m glad to hear it I guess. What do you mean I’m strange?”

She looked at me and put her hands on her... lap? She looked like a parent about to tell their child something they didn't want to hear. “Don’t become agitated, your behavior is normal for humans.” 

Oh, so it's a human thing then. “Well, how am I strange? I’m not going to get mad.”

She snorted. “You can’t seem to make up your mind about how to interact with me.”

Yup, she noticed, probably both. Shit, how well can she read me? I could be an open book to her for all I know. I should just be honest. "Having you here has been an adjustment for me, but don’t get me wrong. I am happy that you’re here. You were a little overzealous, but you did a good job keeping me safe today. I’m sure people would have harassed me if you weren’t backing me up.” 

She cocked her head. “You really mean that?”

“I do.”

I saw her lips curl upward into a slight smile. The movie started back up soon after, which ended our conversation.

We watched movies all day, and well into the night. I was dozing off around the third or fourth romantic comedy. Eventually the boredom overtook my desire to stay awake and I fell asleep. When I woke up, a different movie was playing and I had leaned back on the couch while I dozed off. I felt cool scales touching my arm. I looked to my right and 11-7 was sitting very close to me. My arm was laying on the couch, and the side of her hips were pushed right up against it. I blinked a few times to make sure she was really there. 11-7 didn’t disappear, she had actually scooted all the way over to sit next to me and was watching the movie intently. How long has she been sitting like this? I didn’t know how to react, so I just pretended to wake up. The moment I stirred I felt the sensation of her cool flesh leave immediately, and I heard something heavy slide across the cushions. When I looked over, she cast me a nervous glance, like she was trying to figure out if I knew something. Great, if she wants to pretend that didn’t happen, then I’ll play along.

Well this has certainly been an eventful day. I yawned. “I’m going to bed, don’t stay up too late.”

She seemed to relax when I didn’t mention anything about the whole sitting next to me thing. “Goodnight Lucas, but I only sleep for 4 hrs a day.”

That was surprising. “What, why?”

“My species has been genetically modified by the Elders to be more effective in combat.” 

“Whatever, I don’t want to discuss genetics now, or how that would make you more effective in combat. Enjoy your 4 hrs of sleep, but don’t watch too many of those romantic comedies. They’ll rot your brain.” 

She looked concerned. “Do they really?”

“No, it’s a figure of speech.” 

She nodded. “Oh, I understand.”

She really needs to work on her understanding of human phrases. Though, I suppose it’s impressive that she can carry a conversation at all. I left and went to my bedroom. 

It only took one day to ruin my career. I suppose it’s fitting, considering it took me one day to build it. Damn those journalists. And now instead of getting away from that serpent, I’m being pushed closer to her. Not that I’m a completely unwilling party to it. I mean, she was sitting close to me while I slept, and was embarrassed about it when I woke up. That’s cute as fuck; I never stood a chance, did I? No, this isn’t right, I’ve got to do something. How could things even work between us? Who knows what she has going on anatomically. She might not have anything... down there, since these Vipers never wear things that cover their waist. There’s still a chance for redemption, I can save myself before things get too serious. I just have to think about how. I looked at my phone, 12:22 am. Too late now, I’ll sleep on it. I climbed into bed and plugged in my phone. 

She really sat right next to me, didn’t she? Hell, I’m surprised she wasn’t holding my hand when I woke up. That’s so corny, like something from a movie... I’m going to have to start keeping tabs on what she’s watching. I swear if I have any more weird dreams about Vipers or terrorists, or viper terrorists I’m gonna have to do something drastic. Sleep came easy, I didn’t have much energy left after the grocery trip, and those romantic comedies took what I had left.


	6. Chapter 6

I shot up in bed, wide awake. My heart was thumping in my chest and I was breathing heavy. I checked the time on my phone: 8:27 am, half an hour before I’m usually up. I didn’t remember my dream from last night at all, I was just experiencing the aftershock of it. Lucky me. I’m not going to chance it by going back to sleep though, so I might as well get up. I got ready for the day and went into the hallway.

11-7’s bedroom door was open, and I heard the tv playing some show. I walked out into the living room, expecting to see her, but she was nowhere to be found. I sat down on the couch and started flicking through channels. As I was flicking through the channels I heard a strange noise, so I turned down the volume. 

It sounded like quiet grunting, and it was coming from the... bathroom. I cautiously made my way over to the door. Assuming someone didn’t break into my house and decide to use the bathroom, 11-7 was in there doing - something. Normally, I would just walk away my face redder than when I arrived, but she sounded like she was in pain. I even heard something that sounded like someone was rubbing a balloon. 

I didn’t know what the hell was going on in there, but because of the ruckus she was making I felt compelled to speak up. I knocked on the door. “Uh, you alright in there... 11-7?” 

I heard the sounds stop, but she didn’t respond. “I might have some uh, laxatives if you need them. Not sure if they’ll work on you though.”

I heard a popping sound, and things were silent for a few moments before she spoke up. “I’m fine Lucas, thank you.”

Definitely going to need to clean and sterilize the whole bathroom before I use it next time. “Oh, ok then. Good luck, I guess.”

She didn’t respond, and I just sat on the couch and turned up the volume on the tv until I couldn’t hear her grunts anymore. Some time after I sat down I saw the bathroom door open, and she was carrying something in her hands. I didn’t get a good look at it because the moment she came out of the bathroom she ducked into her bedroom. Whatever she was carrying looked somewhat big. What the hell was she doing in there? 

I watched her bedroom door, expecting her to come out at some point, but she didn’t. I kept watching tv for a few hours until I heard my phone start ringing. I looked at the caller ID. It displayed the word Manager back to me. Manny? What the hell could he want? I answered the call.

“Mr. Hickey, I have found an excellent opportunity to help restore your reputation.” He sounded like he was out of breath.

Something already? Damn, he really worked fast for this one. Though I’m not much use to Advent with a tarnished reputation. “Don’t keep me in suspense, what is it?”

“Do not interrupt me while I explain it.” Manny paused for a few moments. “I have been contacted by several different news agencies that expressed interest in interviewing you about your “date” with unit 117-45-LH. I turned down all but one of those that asked. The one I didn’t turn down has a good reputation. It’s a woman by the name of Martha Clarks. She works for a pop culture news show, perhaps you’ve heard of her? ” He stopped speaking.

I shouldn’t be surprised, I mean he had 3 interviews lined up for me after I was nearly killed by terrorists. “Give me a break, It’s been like one day since I found out.”

He cleared his throat. “I understand Mr. Hickey, but you need to understand your position. I won’t force you to do this. Whether you go or not is up to you, but this is in your best interest. I can try and salvage your reputation on my own, but I cannot guarantee my level of success. You would look better if you went to this interview, instead of hiding in your house. Think of it, you’d be representing yourself and standing up to your accusers. It would make you look strong and independent in the public’s eye, which I believe is the image you wish to maintain.”

I hate it when he’s right. I sighed. “What will it be like?”

His tone changed, he sounded chipper, or as close as Manny could get to chipper. “It will be short approximately 5-10 minutes in length. The questions will be straightforward and easy. For once, all you have to do is tell the truth. This should be a simple task.” 

Maybe this won’t be too bad. “Okay, I’ll do it. Anything else I need to know?”

“You old driver Ronald will pick you up at 3:30 and get you to the news station at 4. Once you get there I’ll brief you further on what will happen. You’ll have a short meeting with Miss Clarks that I will observe, and you’ll give the interview shortly after.”

“Jeez you really planned all this out, huh?”

“You’re a smart man Mr. Hickey. You know when to take an opportunity if presented with one. I had faith you would make the correct decision.”

“Thanks, I guess. Talk to you later.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Hickey.”

I hung up and stared at my phone until the screen went black. I saw my face reflected back at me. What Manny said was true, this interview is an excellent opportunity. Assuming that Martha Clarks isn’t going to try and goad me into saying something I shouldn’t. Of course Manny is good at vetting those types, and I’m sure Advent still wants to help me with my reputation. I’m sure if I was unsalvageable they wouldn’t hesitate to throw me under the bus. But I don’t think I’m at that point yet. 

I’ve got to prepare for this thing somehow. I could start with remembering what happened and once I’ve gotten that down I’ll modify it to make me look better. As long as the questions are focused on what happened I should be ok. It's a short interview, she’s not gonna have enough time to go on tangents. The more I think about this interview, the better it sounds.

I spent the next few hours preparing for my interview. Luckily, I wasn’t distracted by anything during that time. My reptilian roommate must have been occupied with something because she didn’t come out of her room until it was time for me to leave. I threw on my tan suit with a red tie, and walked over to 11-7’s door.

-

11-7 cocked her head. “You are giving an interview about the event that has caused you much distress?”

“Yeah, I’m not super excited about it, but I have to do it. Driver’s here, so get ready quick. I’ll be outside by the car.” 

She nodded and pulled her head into her bedroom before shutting the door.

Strange that she’s been in her room all day, but it’s probably nothing. After all, I was content with hiding in my house for the rest of my vacation. 

I walked out to the car and there I saw Ron leaning against the side of the car smoking a cigarette. He looked like someone’s grandpa, and in fact he was, he’s talked about his grandchildren to me before. He had a thick grey moustache that spread across his upper lip, and had thinning hair up top that he usually covered up with a fishing-related baseball cap. He wore thick glasses because he refused to get any gene-modifications to fix his eyes, but despite that he’s the best driver I’ve had. 

He’s never told me why, but I know why. It’s probably for the same reason I’ve never used one of those gene clinics. Some of my neighbors don’t care about that and they often brag about the new modifications they’ve gotten at neighborhood parties. For most of us we knew better. It’s a rule that no one put in place and one we’ve never discussed: don’t let Advent modify you. Course we can’t criticize people for getting modifications either, that would make the unspoken rule, spoken and then the thin line we all tread would fall out from under us. We were lucky, due to our positions in society my neighbors and I were not “encouraged” to go to the gene clinics like most civilians were. Advent was already getting its use out of us. I don’t know exactly what goes on at those clinics, but they aren’t just for the benefit of humanity, of that I am certain.

He pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and waved at me as I was walking up to him. “Howdy.”

I smiled. “Ron, you old fuck, I thought you were dead. They really let you out of the hospital this soon?”

He chuckled. “No, ya see I had to break out, the police are still after me. But ya know it takes a lot more than a bomb blast to keep this ol’ soldier down. What happened to you? I saw the interview when I was layin in a hospital bed, but ya know how these things go.”

“Good to hear. Yeah, what you heard on the news was true. I killed one of those terrorists and barely got out of there with my life.”

“I wish I was back there with ya and not knocked out in the front seat. We coulda gotten all of them bastards, instead of just one. Speaking of that, where’s your en-tour-age.”

“Trying out a new word?”

“I figured I should try and learn some new ones. I’m starting to get tired of using the same ones.”

“Good for you. She’ll be out in a bit. She’s getting ready.”

He got a look in his eye. “She’ll? She’s? You holdin out on me boy?”

Oh great here we go. “It’s not what you think, she is just - my bodyguard.”

He took a long and thoughtful drag from his cigarette. “Oh I think it’s exactly what I think it is. You sweet talked Advent - and somehow got yerself a hot and bea-u-tiful broad to guard you. I’ve seen some of them girlies walking around on patrol a few times, and they ain’t half bad lookin. So, she’s livin in your house, huh?”

“Well, of course she lives with me, that's Advent's policy. But she is not...”

“Oh ho ho, someone’s red at the cheeks. Give me details boyo. Do you like her? Is she a looker?” He cupped invisible breasts in front of his chest, still holding the cigarette. “How large are her assets?”

I was about to again attempt to explain an important detail to him, but 11-7 made her appearance, so it was unnecessary. Ron was mid-puff when he saw her slither out of my house. He looked to my left and his eyes widened. The smoke he was breathing out got caught in his throat, and he broke out into a coughing fit.

He leaned over while he was coughing. “Why - didn’t - you - say she was - a goddamn snake.” He struggled to get that sentence out while he was coughing.” 

I spoke quietly to him. “I was trying to Ron, but you kept interrupting me, you jackass.”

After a few deep breaths He straightened himself out. He looked at 11-7 again, seemingly appraising her with the focus of a jeweler as she was slithering over. He elbowed me and whispered. “Well she does have pretty large knockers fer a snake. S’pose I can’t blame ya.” He started to cackle after saying that. 

11-7 looked at us both through squinched eyes. “What are you two taking about?”

God this is so embarrassing. “Nothing.” I gestured to Ron. “This is...”

He took his hat off and did a little bow. “Ronald Gallagher, best diver in the city. At yer service mam.” Always the show off, guess he really has healed up. 

She cocked her head. “Your designation isn’t Ron?” 

Ron put his hat back on and looked at me with an eyebrow raised. I answered the question he didn’t ask. “She's asking about your name.” 

He looked back at her. “No mam, it is a nickname.” 

“Nick - name?”

He removed his hat for a second and scratched his head. “It is a name my friends call me, but not my real name. My nickname is short for Ronald”

She pondered what he said, and glanced my way a few times while she was thinking. Then she looked at him. “May I call you Ron?”

He smiled. “Well, seeing as you were so polite about it, sure.”

She smiled slightly. “Thank you... Ron.” 

He returned his attention to me. “So I’m taking you to an interview huh. Thought you were on vacation?”

“I am, this isn’t technically for work. It’s for me.”

“Well, I reckon we best get a move on then. You can tell me the details while I drive.”

The drive to the news station was uneventful. Ron seemed to be getting along well with 11-7 after his initial shock, which wasn’t surprising. When Ron wasn’t around his wife, he spent most of his down time leering at anything with tits and two legs. Though 11-7 doesn’t have legs, so I guess it’s just anything with tits now. I was quiet for the drive, going over what I had planned to say for the interview in my head.

“We’re here!”

I shook myself from my thoughts “Huh, what?”

Ron looked back at me. “Get yer head outta yer ass, ya got an interview ta do.”

“Right you are, I’ll see you around.”

I stepped out of the car and squinted my eyes. I put my sunglasses back on and got a good look at the building. It was standard fare for a building on the outskirts of downtown. White colored metal, covered with picture windows. The shape was blocky with lots of hard edges. No effort put into the look of the architecture at all. Definitely a building made after the invasion by Advent. The only thing on it that made it stand out from the buildings around it was the sign above the entrance that read: The Public Echo, in blue text. 

As I walked towards the entrance I heard 11-7 slide up next to me. She spoke, to my surprise. “Are you certain you want to do this?” 

I looked at her. She seemed somewhat concerned, but I couldn’t tell if it was for me or for herself. “I don’t want to do this, but that’s life. More often than not I have to do things I don’t want to. It’s not like someone else could do this interview for me.” Her concern remained, but I could tell by the way she looked at me that she understood why I was going. 

We walked through the glass double doors and went through a small security checkpoint. A man in a black suit walked up to me once we were through. “Mr. Hickey I presume.”

“That’d be me.”

“If you’ll follow me I can take you to your room. Your manager is waiting for you there.”

I followed the man to a staircase. We were about halfway to the next floor when I heard 11-7 say something. “Is there an elevator nearby?”

The man and I turned around and saw her at the bottom of the stairs. Her hood was contracted slightly and I noticed the tip of her tail was curled up. 

I’d never thought about her climbing stairs until now, so I spoke first. “You can’t climb stairs?”

She furrowed her brow. “I can maneuver up stairs... Just not stairs that are this steep while wearing all my equipment.” Considering how thick her body is, I can see how it would be difficult to get any traction or purchase on these stairs. Good thing to note if I ever get chased by a Viper I suppose.

The man responded. “There is one down that hall and to the left. The room is on the second floor. Mr. Hickey and I will wait for you outside of the elevator.”

With that 11-7 quickly slithered off down the hall. We made it up the stairs and waited outside of the elevator. It sounded with a ding and as the doors slowly slid open I saw her looking irritated. I couldn't help but chortle at the thought of a trained Advent soldier being unable to use certain kinds of stairs. She stared daggers at me in response, as she moved out of the elevator.

It was a short walk the rest of the way to my room. I said goodbye to the man and walked in. It looked the same as any other waiting room I’d been in. Few comfortable looking reclining chairs, big mirror, and a small fridge with some refreshments. Manny was pacing around in the corner of the room with his hands behind his back when we walked in. I stepped to the side of the door, so 11-7 had room to enter.

Manny looked over at me and grinned. “Welcome Mr. Hickey. Punctual as always.” He turned his attention to 11-7. “Unit 117, I do believe this is the first time I’ve seen you in the flesh. How are you liking your assignment? I hope Mr. Hickey hasn’t been giving you too much grief.”

Her body language changed the moment my manager addressed her. She seemed more rigid and her movements were deliberate, mechanical almost. Her tone changed too, and she spoke with little inflection. “Mr. Hickey has been accommodating and friendly towards me. I have no complaints about my assignment.” It was strange to hear them talk about me. Most people would consider this to be rude, but as usual Manny probably knew that and didn’t care.

“Good.” He lifted up his spectacles for a moment and scanned her face. “Not too friendly, I hope.” she shook her head almost imperceptibly and that seemed to satisfy him. Manny turned his gaze to me. “I wish we were here under better circumstances, but as you know Mr. Hickey you have an interview to do. Miss Clarks shall be here shortly, so I’ll brief you now.” Manny and I sat on two chairs that were across from each other with a coffee table in the middle. 

The brief was short and sweet. The interview length had decreased by a few minutes, which I didn’t mind, but it seemed pretty straightforward. 11-7 initially seemed interested, but after a few minutes that interest disappeared completely. She was sitting on one of the chairs with her body stretched out on the floor. We had gotten far into a discussion on strategy for the interview before I heard a knock at the door.

“May I come in Mr. Hickey?” The voice was feminine sounding and it was muffled through the door.

I looked from the door to Manny. He spoke up. “Come in Miss Clarks, we are sufficiently prepared.”

The door opened and I finally got a look at Miss Clarks. She was younger looking than I expected. Fair skinned and had a face that was pleasing to the eye. Brown eyes, and long brown hair. She wore a black coat over a white blouse, and a medium length black skirt that held tightly to her body. Her whole look screamed librarian at me.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you Mr. Hickey.” She walked towards me and offered her hand for me to shake. I saw 11-7 tense up out of the corner of my eye as I shook it. “How are you doing?” 

I chuckled at her question. “I’ve been better Miss Clarks, I’ve definitely been better.”

She smiled. “Well I hope to change that. All too often people’s lives get ruined over rumors and... misinformation. I want to give you a space to tell the world what really happened, whatever that might be.”

Yeah, out of the goodness of your heart, huh. Or is it because you want the ratings. “That’s a nice sentiment. So, what do you want to discuss before the interview?”

“I want to get to know you better before the interview, so I know who I’m interviewing. Talking to a person face to face is so much more interesting than reading and doing research.” 

I shrugged. “I guess I can see that. Well let’s get down to business. I sat back down in my chair and Manny got up out of his, and gestured for Miss Clarks to sit in it.

She seemed conflicted and looked like she was about to speak before she decided against it. Then after a few moments she decided to speak. “I was uh, hoping I’d have Mr. Hickey all to myself for this conversation.”

Manny gritted his teeth audibly. “That wasn’t what was agreed upon Miss Clarks.”

She looked like she had been caught stealing something. “I know, I know. It’s just I want him to act casually around me so he’ll be more comfortable during the interview.” Yeah, or she’s gonna try and get me alone so she can record me saying something stupid. But honestly I’m not even getting that vibe from her.

I waved Manny over. “Let me discuss this with my manager.”

He walked over. “I don’t know why you are even entertaining this Mr. Hickey. This is not a good idea.”

“It would make me look more genuine. I just want to confirm some things with you before I decide. Does she really have a good reputation? And is this place funded by Advent?”

He nodded. “She has not tried to entrap any of the people she’s interviewed, and her interviews tend to be more casual in appearance. So she is likely being genuine with her intentions. The Public Echo is partially funded by Advent, but not completely. I still would advise against this Mr. Hickey.”

I glanced back at 11-7, she was watching Miss Clarks closely. She met my gaze when she noticed I was looking at her. Unfortunately, she didn’t offer any hints as to what she was thinking and went back to watching Miss Clarks after a few moments. 

I decided to agree to a private conversation with Miss Clarks. “I’ll do it, since it’ll help with the interview.”

I saw a spark behind her eyes ignite. “Thank you so much. You won’t regret this.”

She sat down in the chair across from me, and I watched as Manny and 11-7 left the room. Manny left immediately, but 11-7 took her sweet time, and stared down Miss Clarks the whole way out, even casting a final hostile glance before closing the door. Why is she so hostile towards Miss Clarks? She must have picked up on something I didn’t, this may have been a bad idea.

Miss Clarks seemed oblivious to 11-7’s hostility. She was focused entirely on me now. “I’m so happy you agreed to this. You have no idea how hard it was to get this interview. I was actually interviewed by your manager yesterday, and he did his research on me.”

I nodded. “Yeah, he’s good at what he does, I can’t deny that. So, uh how do you want to do this Miss Clarks?”

She giggled. “Well you can start by dropping the formality Lucas. You can call me Martha.”

“Ok Martha, so what did you want to talk about.”

“Oh I just want to learn about your background a little, but I think we should start with an easy one to break the ice.” She got a serious look in her eye. What... is your favorite color?”

My favorite color, what is this preschool? I sighed “Red.”

“Oh come on, liven up. You know your manager isn’t here anymore. You don’t have to score points by picking Advent’s color.”

I snickered a little at that. “Alright, but red is actually my favorite color. Kind of convenient since it’s plastered everywhere though.”

She nodded and pulled out a notepad. “Likes the color red.” She spoke aloud as she wrote on the notepad. “It’s a start. Why do you like the color red?”

“Well, I just do... I guess it’s a color that’s really eye-catching and it’s the color of passion.”

“A man of passion then. Should I make a note of that?”

“What, you need to make a note of that? I thought it was obvious.”

She started laughing, and it took her a few moments to calm down. “I’m sorry, you’ll have to forgive me. I’m somewhat of a fan of you.”

I find that hard to believe. I’m not a well known actor, and it’s hard to believe my interviewer just so happens to be a fan. “Are you now... Tell me, what’s your favorite performance of mine?”

“Ooo, that’s a toughy.” She paused for a few moments to think. “I really liked your performance in Intruder. Your portrayal of a man just trying to protect his family was powerful, and that scene when the wife died was so sad. I cry every time I see it.”

“I wasn’t expecting that. Didn’t Intruder do bad at the box office though?”

She nodded. “It did, but it wasn’t because of your performance.” 

“Well, thank you. I try to put my all into my roles, even if I play a small part. Kind of ironic that’s the only movie I was the lead in and it bombed... Let’s move on to your questions about my background.” 

Martha was scribbling furiously and looked up at me after I suggested we move on. “Oh, ok. I just want to make sure I have your background right.” She flipped back in her notepad and assumed a more professional seating position. “So, when you were younger you lived on a farm with your parents?”

“I did.”

“What was that like?”

Thinking back on my younger years always brings back bad memories. I sighed. “It was alright. Had a big family, so I was never lonely. Plenty of brothers and sisters to keep me company, but there was a lot of work to be done, and all of us had to pull our own weight. We had to work together as a family to overcome a lot of challenges, especially during Advent’s... liberation.”

She wrote some things down. “Interesting. Do you keep in contact with your family?”

I shook my head. “Not really, they never approved of me leaving, or of my choices after leaving. I doubt they’d want to talk to me, even after all I’ve done for myself... Course it’s my life to live, not theirs.” 

“Why did you leave?”

I chuckled at that question. “Why does anyone move out of their parents house? I wanted to see what was out there beyond the fence of the farm and the small town we lived near. I wanted to come to the city and make something of myself without their help. Plus I was never really cut out to be a farmer.” 

Martha’s cheery disposition turned more solemn. “That must have been hard on you... I can’t imagine not speaking to my parents.”

“Yeah. Well, I get by, and it doesn’t bother me that much anymore.”

She scribbled on her notepad some more. “What was your relationship with your parents like before you left?”

“What is this, a therapy session? I don’t see how my relationship with my parents has any bearing on the interview we’ll be doing today.”

She looked a little caught off guard by my outburst. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overstep my bounds. I was just trying to get a profile on you, in case you wanted to do future interviews with me.”

“Well that’s fine, but let’s just stick to the script. And don’t ask me any questions like that when we do the actual interview.”

“Don’t worry I won’t ask you anything like that. I want to get your side of the story on the air, not your background.” 

“Thank you.”

An alarm started to go off. She looked at her phone and pushed on the screen. “Well, that’s all the time we have together for now.’ She stood up, and walked over to me. I stood up too. She reached a hand forward for me to shake. I shook it. “It was interesting meeting you Lucas, I can’t wait to talk more, in front of a camera. See you in 20 minutes.” 

She turned to leave the room, and I couldn’t help but notice the way her hips swayed as she walked out of the room. As soon as she left 11-7 and Manny came back into the room. Manny was impressed with my ability to keep Martha talking about nothing important, even though I was just answering her questions. 11-7 didn’t say much, she just nodded at me when I looked at her. I prepared some more and sat around drinking cans of apple juice, because that was the only non alcoholic beverage they had in the fridge, waiting for the interview to start. Eventually I heard a knock at the door, and walked off towards the set.

The interview room was well lit and clean. There were a number of staff walking around adjusting the lighting and various other things, and a man stood next to a large camera. The interview area was set up to look like a living room. Carpeting on the floor two comfy looking chairs separated by a few feet. There were some water bottles on a wooden table that sat in between them. Around and above the area being filmed it looked like a steel and concrete warehouse. I guess that’s how it always is with people, they only care about what’s on the surface, or what they can see. 

Philosophy aside, I saw Martha was already sitting in her chair, so I sat down in my chair across from her. She spoke first. “Are you ready Lucas?”

I nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

The tv camera guy counted down from three using his fingers and we were live. Martha gave her introduction. “I’m here today with actor Lucas Hickey, who you may know as Private Johnston from the popular show Home-Wreckers. He has been in the public’s eye recently because of some gossip about his relationship with his bodyguard.” She paused for a few moments and looked over at me. “I think we should address the question that’s on everyone’s mind before we get into the details. So tell us, are the rumors true?”

I shook my head. “No, this is simply a made up theory that came from a few photos. A theory that some journalists jumped on to get the story out first without bothering to investigate.”

She smiled. “And that’s why I brought you on, so we could hear the truth. Which leads me into my next question, what actually happened that day at Advent Burger?” She leaned forward slightly after finishing. 

I paused for a few moments to gather up my thoughts. “My new bodyguard had been assigned to me recently, and now that I had some protection again I felt safe enough to go out.”

I paused for a few seconds, so Martha butted in. “I’m surprised you would go out so soon after the terrorist attack.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, well Advent assured me I would be fine, so I trusted them. Haven’t been attacked since that day, so they were right. Anyway, I decided to go to an Advent burger. And, of course, my bodyguard had to come with me, for my safety. So we went to Advent Burger together.”

“Then your guard was there to protect you?”

“Yes, exactly, but apparently that's not obvious to some people. I was a bit hesitant to bring her in with me, but it was better to not take that chance.”

She paused for a few moments before responding. “That explains why your guard was there with you, but why were you eating together?”

I cleared my throat and swallowed. “It would have been rude if I was stuffing my face in front of her, and didn’t offer to get her something beforehand.”

She seemed satisfied with my answer. “My, such a gentleman.” She laughed after saying that. “So, what exactly is your relationship with your bodyguard?”

This question was the one I prepared for the most. “We interact with one another, but we are not friends. Our relationship is strictly professional. I don’t know her very well, at best we are acquainted with one another.” Not exactly true, but I’ve got an image to keep, and I cannot leave this open ended.

She referred to her notes after I answered the question. “One of the rumors that has been circulating is that it lives in your house with you.”

I nodded. “It is standard procedure that Advent security staff live with the person that they are protecting. Before I had her, three Advent troopers were living in my house. There are additional measures in place to protect me at home, but I won’t go into detail about them for obvious reasons.”

She laughed. “Are you sure you don’t want to give us detailed information on your security system?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “No, maybe if you got me drunk enough I would.”

As Martha laughed again, she looked over at the cameraman. He signaled to her by holding up two fingers. “One final question, I noticed you’ve referred to your bodyguard using she and her during this interview. What is that about?”

That was unexpected. I paused for a few moments to think of a response “Well, she’s not an it. - I mean, she can not only talk, but she can also hold a conversation... It would be demeaning to refer to her as an it.” This next line I just thought of will probably get Manny’s dick hard, if he has one. “Besides, it is the Elder’s will that we all live together in harmony. We should all respect our fellow earthlings, no matter what they look like.” I smiled after saying that. God that’s so cringy, I hope it’s not showing up on my face.

She looked at the camera. “That’s all we have time for today unfortunately. I must say, I’m convinced. But don’t stop here guys, carry on the conversation online. And remember to keep tuning into The Public Echo for your professional pop culture news.” She looked over at me. “It’s been a pleasure Lucas.”

“The pleasure was all mine Martha.”

We shook hands and the camera man gave us a hand signal that implied the broadcast had been cut. 

Martha laughed. “Wow, you are really good at this. I even threw you a curveball there at the end.”

I shrugged. “When you do public speaking and Acting as a career you tend to get good at it.”

“You’re not upset about any of the questions are you? I didn’t want to press you too hard.”

I shook my head. “I think we stayed on track, which was the important part. I’m feeling pretty good about this interview. But I’ve got to go meet with my manager. I’ll see you later.”

She looked like she wanted to say something, but she didn’t stop me when I walked away. “Goodbye...”

The walk back to my waiting room was short and once inside I was greeted by a pleased Manny. 

“I couldn’t have said it better myself Mr. Hickey. Once again you prove your value to Advent.”

“Hey thanks, maybe we should celebrate a little. There are some drinks in that fridge other than apple juice.”

I saw his eyes widen in surprise, but he didn’t say no. I went over to the fridge and grabbed myself a beer and handed one to him. 

I looked at 11-7, but when her gaze met mine I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. She seemed reserved. “You want one?”

She shook her head, and didn’t speak. After that she avoided looking at me. I went and sat on a chair.

Manny looked over at me, still standing up. “This isn’t Liquor Mr. Hickey.” 

I cracked mine open and took a sip. “Nope, but it does the same thing as liquor. You just have to drink more of it.” 

He nodded and gulped some of it down. I saw a look of disgust spread across his face. “It tastes disgusting.”

I laughed at that. “Most people don’t drink it for the taste. Least, I don’t.” I took another drink. 

He sat down across from me, examining the can in his hand. “I suppose a celebration is in order. Your performance was exemplary today.”

I knocked back a few beers with Manny as we discussed my performance in the interview. As I was starting to feel buzzed our conversation topics shifted to small talk. 11-7 observed us, but her gaze was empty. I detected no emotion from it, and she didn’t speak to either of us.

“So, you like alcohol. Better be careful, it might grab hold of you like it did the Native Americans.”

Manny shook his head. “Don’t compare me to them. I have the ability to stop whenever I want to.”

“Have you ever been to a bar, or a club? There are all kinds of drinks you can order. Most of them taste better than beer.” I said as I finished another can of beer.

He shook his head. “Being surrounded by a large grouping of intoxicated humans with loud music playing is not worthwhile, when I can buy drinks somewhere else.” 

“Ey fair enough. It’s about the experience though. The music’s usually not terrible. Just beats with synth and shitty pop music. You can ignore it.”

“I do not understand why anyone would want to go.”

“Some people go to meet other people...” It was then I got a really good idea. “Hey, I just thought of something. I feel great after that interview. What if I went down to a club, and showed the public that I’m still - on the market.”

His lips stretched into a wicked smile. “I like the way you think Mr. Hickey... but is this strictly for business, or pleasure?”

I shrugged. “A little of both I guess.”

“What club did you have in mind?”

“Hmmm, could try the new one downtown. I think it’s called Exxsite or something.” 

“I can easily get you in. When did you want to be there?”

“Sooner rather than later.”

He nodded. “I will return to my abode and organize it. You’ll receive a message if I’m successful.” 

He strode out the door, leaving me and 11-7 alone. I drank in silence for a while, then I turned around to look over at her. “Great interview huh.” I did a fist pump with my arm as I said that.

She looked at me with a neutral expression, and spoke with a tinge of animosity in her voice. “Yes, very - professional.”

I laughed. “That’s it? I killed it out there! I had that interviewer eating out of the palm of my hand.”

She looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. “You did good.”

She’s talking like Manny is still here. “Lighten up a little 11-7. Manny’s not here anymore, you don’t have to be so serious around me.”

She was about to respond, then I heard a knock at the door. I opened it and saw a familiar interviewer standing there. “Oh, Martha. Hello.”

She started playing with her hair a little, and didn’t meet my gaze. “Hey, I was wondering if you’d want to go to a party later. I’m allowed to bring one guest and I figured why not you.”

“Uhhh. Well, I already have plans unfortunately. Sorry, maybe another time.”

She met my gaze. “Oh don’t be sorry. Here’s my number if you ever want to do something.” She thrust a piece of paper in my hands and left the door way, walking down the hall.

I watched her walk down the hall and went back into the room when I saw her turn a corner. As I was looking at her number I saw 11-7 watching me with great interest out of the corner of my eye. I chuckled and ripped up the paper before shoving the pieces in my pocket.

11-7 spoke up. “Why did you just rip that up?”

“Huh” I looked over at her.

Her eyes were squinted and she seemed very invested in my answer. “That woman gave you a way to contact her. Why did you destroy it?”

“Oh, that's easy. Journalists and vip’s don’t mix. Things just wouldn’t work out between Martha and me because I can’t trust her. Never know when she might turn on me to get out some big story to further her career.”

She looked satisfied and pondered what I said. “I understand.”

I sighed. “Yup, that’s the position I’m put in. It’s difficult to find people to hang out with that you can trust to not stab you in the back first chance they get.” I took another swig from my beer.

She lowered her head and stared at the ground for a few moments. Then she looked back up at me. “Do you trust - me?”

I chuckled and pointed at her. “You’re funny.” She looked uncertain. “Course I do, you haven’t given me a reason not to anyway.” Jeez that was a weird thing to say, maybe I’d better slow down on the brewskis.

She turned her head and I saw a small grin cross her face. I got a message on my phone and looked to see who it was. It was Manny, and he got me a spot at the club I mentioned. 

“Looks like we’re going on a field trip.”

She looked back at me, and cocked her head slightly. “What do you mean?”

“Manny got me a spot at the club I mentioned earlier.”

“You want to go out now?”

“Yeah, why not? Could be another opportunity to dispel the rumors.”

Her hood contracted slightly, and she shook her head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea, so soon after the interview.”

“Oh please, don’t be so negative. Anyway, we should get going. Ron is waiting for us.”

As I left the room I noticed 11-7 was hesitant to leave, but soon after I was in the hallway she slithered out and caught up to me. As we got to the stairs I felt her tap my shoulder. 

I turned to look at her. “I’ll use the elevator.”

“Ok.” So I followed her to the elevator. Kind of weird that she requested that I go with her, but whatever. When we got to the door she slithered in, and gave me a strange look when I walked in behind her. It was a little cramped, but she coiled up her body so I had some space.

I looked up over my shoulder at her. “You know, you’re really good at that.”

She squinted her eyes and looked down at me. “What am I good at.”

I gestured to her body. “The coiling... thing. I mean, you are like massive and you somehow always manage to take up so little space. It’s impressive.”

She gave me another look that made me feel like I was the giant alien in the elevator, instead of her. After a few more moments the doors to the elevator opened and soon after we were outside and climbing into the car. Ron was pretty enthusiastic about me going to a club and said I should get out like this more often.

As we were driving down 11-7 broke the silence with a query. “Why are you going to a nightclub?”

“It’s to uh, pick up chicks, and to show I’m still on the market.”

She was quiet, probably processing what I said, for a few moments. “Acquiring young chickens? And you're attempting to sell them? But there are none anymore. It is Advent policy that people are not allowed to own any animals. I would have to report you, please reconsider this Lucas.”

I heard Ron start laughing. “You don’t know diddly squat, do ya snake.”

She looked at him and furrowed her brow. “I know what is illegal and what isn’t.”

“Chill out there, I’m not doing anything illegal. That was just an expression.”

She looked at me indignantly. “What does picking up chicks mean then.”

I chuckled. “Well uh, it’s when you go out and look for some ladies, converse with them for a bit, and try to convince them to come home with you.”

Ron stopped at a red light and looked back at me. “You are too... tech-ni-cal with your descriptions. You won’t catch any honeys talkin like that.”

I pointed at myself with my thumb. “I am a master of seduction. Just you wait and see, I’ll bring back a Gal with me.”

“Might get cramped in the back if there’s three of ya. She’ll have to sit up front with Uncle Ron.” He patted the passenger seat in the front.

I laughed at that.

11-7 thought about this for a few moments, and her tongue was flicking out much slower than usual. “I do not think you will have much success Lucas.” She stated it like a fact, but I think she was joking around.

I heard Ron burst into laughter. “See, even the snake is questioning your ability.”

I looked at her and she was snickering to herself, like a child. The audacity of this alien. “Oh what do you know, you didn’t even know what picking up chicks meant.”

She stopped snickering and looked at me with a smirk. “You are correct, I didn’t, but I’ve learned much about human behavior since I received this assignment.”

I poked 11-7 in her shoulder pad as I spoke. Her hood flared out and her eyes widened slightly. “I’ll show you. Maybe I’ll bring back 2 or 3 girls just to show you how wrong you are.” 

She squinted her eyes and leaned her head closer to me. “We will see.” 

So she accepted my challenge, great. There's just one problem: my confidence is a leaning tower that is currently being propped up with cans of beer. Judging from her body language she seems pretty confident in her assessment of me. There’s no way she could know I’m inexperienced with this, can she smell the virgin on me? Not that I am a virgin, I just don’t do this on the regular, or at all really. Why am I always getting into these stupid situations.

The rest of the drive there was relatively quiet, with 11-7 casting me a snide glance every once in a while. I thought about what the hell I was going to do when we got there. Soon enough I heard the sound of muffled beats and EDM. I looked out the window as we pulled up. It was almost dark out now, the street and the sidewalk were lit up with intermittent street lights that cast a hazy white glow over everything. The building itself was black with white stone tiles adorning the wall. There were no windows, just a door, and a glowing white sign that spelled Exxcite. The clean minimalist look of it made it stand out from the buildings that surrounded it. Well that, and the long line of people standing along the sidewalk to get in.

He pulled up on the other side of the line. “We ave arrived. Jesus, I’d hate to be standin in a line like that.”

I smirked and looked at him. “You think I wait in lines old man? You forget, I work for Advent.”

I opened the door and stumbled out of the car. I looked back and saw 11-7 slithering out. Once she was out, It took me a few moments to gather my thoughts, but I told her my game plan. “Now listen, not everyone is as used to you as I am, so when I’m making my moves...” Shit, I lost my train of thought. “Could you like, guard me from a distance?”

She nodded. “I wouldn’t want to hurt your chances Lucas; I will observe from a distance.” She leaned forward slightly. “But I will be observing closely.”

“Uh, good to know, follow me, and don’t talk to anyone.” 

As I walked up to the door of the nightclub I noticed that some of the people standing in line shot me nasty looks. Eh, their fault for not being famous. I walked up to the bouncer, who was a behemoth of a man crammed into a black button up shirt and black slacks. He was almost as wide as he was tall, bald with a short trimmed beard. He was already talking to some people, so I waited for him to finish with them. He let them walk in and then turned his attention to me.

“Sorry buddy, you and your...” He was looking at 11-7 and her plasma rifle. He seemed to be slightly unnerved. 

“Bodyguard.”

“You and your... bodyguard will have to get in line.”

“I should be on the VIP list, look up the name Lucas Hickey.”

“Okay, I'll look.” He started typing on a tablet device he was holding. After a few seconds he looked back up at me. “Yeah you’re on the list, you can head on through.”

“Thank you.” I walked past him into the nightclub. I’m sure he was happy to get away from us. The moment I walked in all of my senses were bombarded. There were flashing lights of different colors, some generic electronic music with a repeating beat was playing loudly, and it smelled like sweat and alcohol. The inside was sizable, sporting many tables, a big dance floor with a DJ booth, and more than one bar. It was packed, why there had to be at least 100 people here. 

I looked at 11-7 she was scanning the entire room, probably looking for potential threats. I walked over to an empty table and as she followed me, she got plenty of looks on the way there, but it didn’t seem like she cared. Lucky for her I guess, too focused on her job to realize how much she stood out. All these people, it’s been ages since I’ve done something like this. I might need a shot of liquid confidence, maybe even 2 or 3.

“I’ll be going up to the bar, so where do you want to sit?”

She didn’t even look at me, she continued to survey the surrounding area as she spoke to me. “This spot has a sufficient view of the bar, I will be here.”

“Ok, I guess I’ll holler if I need you.”

She regarded me with a serious expression. “That won’t be necessary.”

“O-kay? Good to know, I guess.” I walked up to the bar and sat on an empty barstool. The bartender walked over to me. He wore a black button up shirt and black slacks, same as the bouncer out front; must be their uniform.

“What would you like to drink, sir?”

“Uhhhh, just get me a shot of vodka, and a rum and cola.”

“Right away sir.” He typed on a tablet on a stand and gestured for me to pay. I waved by phone in front of it. While he made my drinks, I surveyed my surroundings. I saw two girls, who were attractive looking sitting together at the end of the bar, there's a mark. I also saw a more mature woman sitting alone at a table looking somewhat sad, mark number two. I heard the bartender set my drinks down, so I turned back to face the bar. I slammed the shot and took a few big gulps of my rum cola, before heading over to the two girls. Here I go.

As I approached they were talking about someone named Jessica. I interrupted them. “So, how are you ladies doing tonight?”

They both turned to face me, and seemed interested in my sudden appearance. The one on the right was a longhaired blonde and was wearing a tight purple dress. The other one was a brunette with short wavy hair in a modest black blouse and trouser combo. The blonde spoke first. “We’re doing great, super excited about getting into this club.” 

The brunette shared her sentiments. “Yeah, the wait to get in took for-ever.”

“That line did look pretty long, course I got it right away, so the wait wasn’t too bad for me.”

The blonde looked surprised, but the brunette wasn’t impressed. “Yeah, right. Who are you?” 

“The name’s Lucas, Lucas Hickey. I’m an actor, been in a few movies and TV shows.”

The brunette frowned. “I’ve never heard of you.” The blonde seemed to be in deep thought about something.

Well that’s understandable, not everyone knows who I am, but this exchange isn’t going well, time to change the subject. “I noticed you ladies didn’t have any drinks, so I figured I’d come over and fix that problem.”

The promise of a free drink did catch the brunette’s attention. “I could use a drink, what about you Stacy?”

“I’ll get one too.”

“Go ahead and ask the bartender I’ll pay for it.”

The two women got their drinks and were sipping on them happily.

I leaned onto the bar and tried to sound serious for a moment. “Now, let me ask you ladies a question real quick. Have either of you had an officially recognized hero buy you a drink before?”

The brunette responded. “No, I haven’t. Who are you?”

I started to explain to them who I was, and what I did as a job. The brunette seemed to be interested in me, but just as I was about to seal the deal, the blonde spoke up. “I thought I recognized you, you’re that guy who fucked his viper bodyguard. Oh my god, he’s the Advent snake fucker, Skylar.” Instantly the brunette backed off.

God - fucking - dammit. I cleared my throat. “Those are unsubstantiated rumors that were peddled by shitty journalists.” 

They didn’t respond. “Look, I just did an interview about this a couple hours ago...”

They still didn’t look like they believed me. This went south very fast, guess it’s time to go big, or go home. “You know hypothetically speaking, if I could keep a creature of that size - satisfied, that would be good for you wouldn’t it?” I raised my eyebrows a few times in quick succession, for added effect. 

Disgust crawled across both of their faces. The blonde spoke up first. “You’re a creep.”

I looked to the brunette for support, but she turned away from me. Then they got up and walked over to some girl that was waving at them, presumably that was Jessica. Damn, I was so close, stupid blonde. If only she was airhead type, I could have gotten some action. I finished the rest of my rum and cola, and got a refill. After chilling at the bar for a few minutes I decided to try again. After all, not everyone thinks the same, time for round 2. 

The rest of the night went just as terribly, as I tried talking to various women. Some recognized me as the Advent snake fucker, others said they had boyfriends that were just not present apparently. Hell, a few of them just outright ignored me. Tonight was not going as well as I hoped it would, and it is not giving me the self confidence boost I so sorely needed. Throughout that time I kept looking back at 11-7, expecting her to be laughing at my failures, or at least to cast me a smug look. But every time she bore a neutral expression and seemed to be more focused on her job than mocking me. 

After all that failure I just decided to sit at the bar, I was tired and didn’t feel like talking to anyone else. I sat there sipping at my rum cola until it ran out, then I started chewing the ice that was leftover. I sat there alone for quite some time, then I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw an arm reach in front of me and set a drink down.

“Need a refill mister?” The voice was feminine and I kind of recognized it, but I couldn’t figure out who it was.

I turned to face the mystery woman. “Hey, thanks... Claire.” This night was about to get even worse. 

She sat down next to me, and I looked her up and down. She was wearing a black crop top and a short skirt that barely made it to her knees. She brushed a few strands of her brown curly hair away from her face. “Long time no see Lucas, having some trouble with the ladies tonight.”

“Yeah, I would have preferred the long time no see. And what I am doing is not any of your business.”

She made a fake shocked expression. “So rude. I know we separated on not the best terms, but that was like 3 years ago, you should let it go.”

She’s just trying to get me riled up, and you know what, it’s working. “Listen you lucid bitch, you cheated on me. I don’t want anything to do with you.”

“I know, you hate me. I’m not asking you to forgive me, I just want to talk is all. You’re the only person I know here.”

I looked at her face, she was as drunk as I was. Not worth the energy. “Whatever, I don’t care.”

“So, how have you been. You know, I still watch some of your movies now and again.”

“I’m fine. Where is your fiancé anyway. I’m sure he’d have something to say about you talking to me.”

She made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “Oh Mark, he’s working overtime at the gene clinic tonight.”

I scoffed. “He let you come here by yourself, what a cuck. You two are perfect for each other.”

She frowned, seems like I finally got under her skin. “I could say the same about you, and that bodyguard of yours.” she smirked. 

OK, that is the last time I take that sitting down tonight. “Oh would you shut up. We lived together for a few years, you know I hate those fucking aliens. I don’t even like talking to them, much less fucking one.”

She took a sip of her drink and smiled coyly at me. “People change Lucas, and it has been a while since we lived together. Never knew you were such a freak underneath that soft exterior, makes me wish we didn’t break up.”

“Just get the fuck away from me. You’ve had your fun, now go find someone else to cheat on your fiancé with.” 

“I would never cheat on my fiancé, you are so childish.”

I stood up and pointed at her. “Childish! I...” 

Just as I was really about to lay into her 11-7 slithered up beside me and spoke. “Is this female bothering you Lucas?”

The sudden appearance of 11-7 startled Claire for a few moments, but after the initial shock was over a devilish smile grew across her face. “So, I finally get to meet her. The hussy you replaced me with.” 

11-7 observed Claire closely. “Who is this female Lucas? Is she one of your old bodyguards?”

I looked down at the ground and rubbed my forehead with my hand. “No, she is my ex girlfriend.”

“That’s right. I am, and I am not going anywhere.”

I looked up at 11-7, she was relaxed. Her sharp crimson eyes had softened and I think she was offering me a look of sympathy. She must understand what's going on. I don't know how though. I'm betting she saw this exact scenario in a movie. “Could you get rid of her, she is bothering me.” 

She nodded and moved in between me and Claire. “Ok, fine. I’ll go somewhere else. You don’t have to push me. But let me tell you something snake, girl to girl. You can do so much better than that pathetic loser standing behind you. He’s got a lot of baggage you don’t need in your life. Just look at him, he can't even get rid of me himself. He has to get you to do it for him.” 

Yeah, because I'd look real good getting into a fight with my ex girlfriend at a nightclub. Luckily I didn't have to say anything. 11-7 hissed at her, and she ran off somewhere in the club. 11-7 turned around to face me. I was expecting her to mock me, to say that she had won our stupid little competition, but surprisingly she didn’t. She just offered the same sympathetic look she did before. “Are you ok, Lu...” 

“Yeah, I’m fine! And I’m not letting that retarded bitch ruin my night, again.” I chugged the rest of the rum cola Claire bought me and ordered another. “Keep watching me, I’ll be out on the dance floor.” 

She looked concerned as I stormed off, but did not say anything. I spent the next hour or so drinking and dancing, after a while, I started to get tired, and my head started to hurt. So, I walked over to where I saw 11-7 sitting. I saw her head focus squarely on me above the tables and the people. It was like a prairie dog poking out of a hole. It made me laugh. She tracked me with her eyes as I approached.

“Ready - to go.” 

She squinted her eyes and her tongue flicked out slower. “Lucas you sound strange?” Then she looked away and quickly scanned the immediate area.

“I don’t know what you’re saying. Let me tell Ron ta pick us up.” I started typing on my phone but I was having trouble clicking on Ron. “Hey, yu got hands, righ. Could you click on Ron for me?”

I reached my arm out to her and stumbled forward. I would have fallen face first on the floor, but she moved her tail under me. I heard a meaty slap as I landed on it, but it didn't hurt. The scales on her tail were soft, and it was yielding on the surface with a firm muscular interior, it felt somewhat warm too. It was quite comfortable to lay on, like a tepid mattress. My eyes drifted shut and was content to be where I was, but I felt her wrap her tail around my chest and got pulled up on my feet. 

She looked very concerned now. Her usual steely disposition while on duty had shattered like a pane of glass. “Lucas, talk to me, are you ok?”

“PShhh, yeah I’m good. Just a lil inebriated. Coul you click Ron. Iss right there.” 

She did what I asked, and Ron picked up right away. “I've been waitin for ya to call, so did ya catch any tail?”

“Nah, tail caught me, but had fun. Talked to lots - a women.”

I heard him laugh. “Sounds like you had fun, I’ll pull out front where I dropped you off.”

“Ok - bye.” I hung up and tried to walk forward by myself. For some reason the ground was shifting around and I was having trouble placing my footing. I stumbled forward and grabbed onto a table. 11-7 moved herself under my arm, and supported me as we walked out the door. Her head darted side to side as we moved forward, checking around the club for threats presumably. 

She looked concerned and I felt bad, so I tried to alleviate that. “Aww, you worried bout mee?”

Her brow furrowed. “Yes I am. Have you been poisoned?”

I let out a loud belch. “In a maer of speakin.” 

She kept looking at my face to check on my condition as she walked me out the door. Once we were outside it was even darker than before; there was a full moon out tonight and the sky was full of stars. I was entranced by the beautiful night sky for a few moments before the sound of a passing car brought me back down to earth. My eyes drifted over to the viper that was basically carrying me. I could sense the determination radiating off of her and I couldn't help but examine her as we headed towards the car. Now, I don’t know if it was the streetlights, the moon shining down, or all the alcohol I drank, but she looked... different. The way the light refracted off her orange scales made it look like she was glowing and it highlighted the features on her face and body; her lithe and supple body, with humanlike features. Maybe the snakelike features weren’t that bad either... That, coupled with her soft worried expression that replaced the usual serious one, and her striking dilated crimson eyes, which were staring deeply into mine.... 

“Di you do some’n with your whole look? Cuss you look - good tonight.” 

Her eyes widened slightly. “No, I look the same as I always do.”

“Huuh, thass cool. Thanksh for carry me.”

She nodded. “You’re welcome - Lucas.”

Shortly after that exchange we reached the car and I crawled in. I don’t remember much after that. I heard 11-7 talking to Ron, and she sounded worried, but I think she calmed down after a while. I remember her walking me to the house and I made it to my bed. When I was in it I remember feeling a sharp pain on my hand, must have hit it on my desk, and then I got really tired after that and fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

I had dreams again, not the rebel and viper filled nightmares I was used to, just strange ones. I saw doctors and nurses, I think, or at least there were people in lab coats. They were all around me and saying things I couldn’t quite make out. They poked and prodded at me with various tools and needles. There was a steady beeping sound that seemed to never stop and it pounded against my eardrums something fierce. I couldn’t move much and I felt tinges of pain every now and again. It felt like I was in sleep paralysis. Everything I experienced made me feel nervous, helpless even. People moved around me, but I couldn’t. As I drifted in and out of this dream I saw 11-7 was there. She wasn’t always right next to me, in fact she was in the background most of the time, but she always looked so concerned. When the people left she would hover over me and observe my condition. Even going as far as to press her fingers into my neck, presumably to check my pulse. I would have been scared, but her presence calmed me. I felt safe, so I relaxed...

-

I slowly opened my eyes and woke up. I felt sore all over, like I had slept in a metal box filled with rocks, but at least I didn’t have a hangover. The first thing I noticed was that I did not wake up in my own bed. Something was touching my left arm, so I looked over at it. There was an IV in it, and I followed the soft plastic tube that went from my hand to a bag of saline solution hanging next to my bed. I felt panic start to build inside me and looked at my body, I lifted up the blanket I was under and saw I was in a hospital gown. I was laying in a hospital bed. I sat up off the plastic pillows I was laying on and looked around, I was in a small hospital room. Compete with a window covered with drab floral curtains, bathroom at the back, and a bunch of equipment hooked up to the bed and to me. There was a tv in the corner that was on. It was playing a news report. The news anchor was talking about a rise in terrorist attacks on the city, and about the measures Advent was taking to prevent them. I also saw a familiar orange serpent draped and curled around some chairs in the corner. She was in her armor and perked up immediately when I looked at her. I saw her hands shoot towards the remote.

11-7 pushed a button on the remote and I heard the tv shut off. She looked happy for a second, and then she got this look like she had been punched in the back of the head. “Lucas, you’re awake.”

I looked down at my body. “I am.” Then I looked back up at her. “Did I over do it last night?”

She averted her gaze from me, instead choosing to look at the remote she was holding. “You did, but...”

I leaned back into my bed and heard the soft crinkle of plastic. “Fuck, I can’t believe I drank so much I got alcohol poisoning. I’m such an idiot...”

I heard her mumbling, so I stopped talking. “I, uh didn’t catch that.”

She turned the remote over and toyed with it in her hands, seemingly analyzing every detail on it. “You weren’t admitted here because of alcohol poisoning.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Why else would I be here? ” As I was thinking I noticed my right arm was especially sore, so I adjusted it to get more comfortable. As I did, I noticed there was a black spot the size of my thumb on the back of my hand, and the skin around it was dark and veiny. “Eugh! What the fuck is that?” I brought my hand closer to my face to get a better look at it.

I heard her mutter something, but I was too focused on my hand to hear it. “That’s so weird, it looks bruised?”

She decided to look up from that interesting remote and at me. “It’s my fault. I... I unintentionally bit you, Lucas.” She blurted out quickly. 

I focused on her instead of my hand. “What?” I looked at my hand again. There was a scar in the middle of the black spot that was approximately the same diameter as her fangs I had seen before. I shuddered at the thought of one of those gnarly things piercing my hand. “I’m inclined to believe you, but I barely remember anything from last night.”

She cocked her head and I saw something flash across her face for a second, relief maybe. “What - do you remember?”

I leaned forward and put my non-bitten hand on my head. Being careful to not rip out the IV. “Uhh. I remember my ex pissing me off, and dancing. I remember leaving the club and getting home, but the details are fuzzy.”

“Ron said this might happen. I thought you had been poisoned by terrorists last night, but he explained what - drunk was to me.”

I laughed and looked up at her. “You really don’t know much, do you?”

She offered an indignant look. “I know enough, and what I don’t know, I learn.” 

Can’t really argue with that. “Ok, but what happened after we left the club? I didn’t say anything weird once we left, did I?”

She went back to looking at the remote, and picked at one of the buttons with her claws. “You did say many - weird - things.”

“Do you remember any of them?”

My question breathed some life into her. She stopped toying with the remote and her posture became slightly more erect for a second. “No.”

I decided not to press her, since I probably didn’t say anything too uncharacteristic. “Uh, ok... So, how’d I get bit.” 

She resumed playing with the remote. “After we arrived at your house I helped you into your room, and set you on the bed. Ron told me to not leave you alone, and make sure you slept on your side, in case you started to vomit. So I stayed in your room to observe, but you refused to sleep. You kept making comments and talking to me. I - became agitated and...”

I chuckled. “You do realize how this sounds, don’t you?.”

Her head spun to my direction and her hood flared out. She spoke with urgency. “I did not bite you intentionally, let me finish.” She broke off her eye contact and continued. “I became agitated and yelled at you. I said some cruel things I’d rather not repeat, but it didn’t work. You just laughed and said I reminded you of some person called Miss Bitey. I don’t know what your relationship was with this Miss Bitey, but you got up on your knees and reached out to my face. You said you wondered if I would do the same thing she did.”

“I really said Miss Bitey?” I laughed. “Aww man, I haven’t thought about that snake in years.”

She squinted her eyes. “Miss Bitey is a snake?”

“Yeah, I had her when I was young. It was a rat snake that I caught in our cornfield and decided to keep as a pet.”

She crossed her arms, remote still in hand, and furrowed her brow. “Do I really remind you of an animal you found in a dirt field?”

I looked away from her, in thought. “Hmmm, well she was a snake, and she was pretty aggressive, so I see how I made the connection.”

“I am Aggressive?” 

Ah, shit. I must still be groggy from whatever the fuck they’ve been pumping me full of. I looked back at her and she was more upset than before. “Well, I mean when I was drunk I could... What I’m trying to say is being aggressive isn’t a bad trait for a bodyguard to have. I would prefer it, over you being complaisant.”

She uncrossed her arms and leaned back into the chairs she was on. “I thought aggression was a trait humans found undesirable.”

I gestured at her with my bitten hand. “Normally it would be, but like I said you’re my bodyguard. You need to be aggressive for my sake. But it’s not a good trait for a pet to have. Course she wasn’t captive bred, so it was expected, but I did take good care of her even though she was bitey.” I smiled. “Now that I think about it you both have bitten me, maybe you have more in common than I thought.”

11-7 snorted, and ignored my comment. “You don’t have it anymore, so what happened to this snake?”

“Oh, uh. During Advent’s... liberation I had trouble feeding her, so I released her back to the wild. One of my brothers talked about eating her too, so I was kind of forced to... but we’re getting off topic. What happened next?”

She didn’t turn away this time and she looked somewhat calmer as she explained, but she didn’t look me in the eyes. “You reached for my face; I believe you were trying to touch me. I protested and told you to lay back down, but you fell over while leaning forward - and you shoved your arm into my mouth.”

“What?” I stared at her in disbelief and looked at my arm. “Like my whole arm?”

She nodded hesitantly. “Yes, your entire arm... Up to your shoulder.” She pointed at my shoulder with a claw.

I kept staring at my arm and tried to not think about how much of me she could fit in her mouth. “My whole arm, wow. Wait a second, how does that work? Didn’t you try to stop me?”

“I don’t have teeth like you Lucas. There wasn’t much I could do once you fell. It just slid in, and your body is so heavy you yanked my head down on the bed.”

“I think I’m starting to get the picture.”

She looked away. “You, freaked out and tried to forcefully remove your arm, and I was startled by - everything. You were squirming the whole time I was trying to carefully pull your arm out. My fangs unfolded, and once it was almost out I bit your hand.”

“I see, well that's unfortunate. Heh, kinda glad I don’t remember it.”

She looked back at me with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “You’re not upset with me?”

I laughed. “I mean it sucks that you bit me, but I did shove my entire arm down your throat. Some things are unavoidable.”

Relief washed over her like a wave, and she was calm for a few moments. It seemed like we were done talking, so I looked out the window at the city, but the sound of plastic hitting wood caught my attention. The calm was gone from her and in its place I saw a fire ignite in her eyes. “I’ve had to deal with much, while you were sleeping. I... I thought you would die, or never wake up, and if that happened I’d...” She paused and pointed at me with one of her four fingered hands, a scowl adorning her face. “Don’t you drink like that again.”

She was so worried about me reprimanding her, and now she’s doing it to me. Ugh.“Who are you, my mother? I’ll drink as much as I want.”

My statement only seemed to increase her fury. “Do you realize you almost lost your hand?” 

I had to do a double take. “What?”

She calmed down slightly, having successfully gotten my attention. “If I didn’t inject you with the viper antivenom I keep in my room, the physicians said your hand would’ve been amputated.” She made a chopping motion with one of her hands.

“That’s unnerving... Well, I’m sure Advent could have grown me a new one or something, but I’ll take it easier from now on, I don’t drink that much anyway.”

The fire wasn’t entirely extinguished. “I am happy to hear you say that, but you should not be so dismissive. You could have been permanently hurt.”

Comforting people doesn’t seem to be her strong suit. “Well maybe I’m just not scared of being killed by you.” 

And like that the anger was gone, snuffed out like a candle. She observed me for a few moments after I said that, and smiled slightly. I guess she believed me. 

I took a deep breath and looked around the room. “So, when do I get out?”

She put a clawed finger up to her chin. “I believe the physician said the day you woke up you could be discharged.”

“Nice, wait. The day I woke up? What day is it?”

Her eyes widened slightly, and I got the impression she wasn’t supposed to reveal that. “It’s... Monday.”

“I’ve been out of it for 2 whole days?”

She wavered in her answer and I noticed the tip of her tail was flicking back and forth. “Yes, but you are alright, so there’s no problems now.”

“Sure, I’m fine now, but what if this happens again?”

“Don’t worry this won’t happen again.”

No she’s right, this actually is something I shouldn’t worry about. I chuckled. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I’d have to stick my arm in your mouth again for this to happen.”

She shook her head. “Not, that. You were - immunized against viper venom.”

“Really, I’m totally immune now?” She nodded her head. “That’s awesome... wait, it didn’t naturally happen, did it?” I didn’t wait for her to answer. “Did they inject me with anything? Like anything weird?” 11-7 hesitated to speak, so I panicked a little. “Did they inject me with anything weird!”

She reared her head back and turned away from me. “I... don’t know. They injected you with many things.”

I assessed my condition, and besides the pain I didn’t feel different. “Well, I don’t feel any different, so maybe I’m fine.” I looked out the window again, I watched some cars pull in and out of the parking lot. As I did, It finally hit me. “I’ve been asleep for two whole days, wow. Two days gone, just like that, heh. Feels like I’ve only been asleep for a few hours”

She piped in. “It could have been longer.” I think she was trying to make me feel better, but it just reminded me I could have died. 

Let’s get off this topic. “It could have.” I chuckled, and looked at her. “So, what’d you do this whole time? Anything fun?”

She shook her head. “I’ve been in this room with you since you were admitted.” She held up the remote and pointed at the tv on the wall with a clawed finger. “The television has provided - entertainment.”

“You’ve been here with me the whole time?”

She cocked her head, and looked at me like she thought I was stupid. “Yes, I wouldn’t be a good bodyguard if I left you alone in such a vulnerable state.” She gestured to my body with one of her hands.

She really stayed beside me while I was comatose in bed for two days. I don’t know what to say; I don't think I know anyone who’d do that for me except... As I spoke I tried to sound as grateful as I could. “Thank you. I really mean it.”

She looked surprised by my appreciation. “You’re welcome Lucas, but I am just doing my job.”

“You sure are... Now get one of those doctors in here. I want to go home and get out of this stupid gown.”

-

The doctor explained everything to me, said that I only got a little venom in my body when I got bit. Which was lucky because their bites usually inject enough venom to fill a small glass. He explained the effects of viper venom to me for all my trouble, apparently it’s a neurotoxin that attacks nerve tissue, which makes it difficult for the person to breathe. Depending on the amount of venom injected, if left untreated, a bite will make a person unable to move after 10 minutes, and can kill a person in 50 minutes. Spose I’m lucky the job of the viper that bit me was to keep me alive. That’s only if you get bit though, he went on and on about the different effects of venom being spit at you. After talking my ear off, he confirmed that I am indeed immune to Viper venom, and said something about injecting me with modified B-cells. I was pissed that they did that without my permission, but he assured me they didn’t mess with my DNA at all. Whatever I guess, it’s not like they can take out what they put in me. With that done, I signed some papers, and soon enough I was home. 

-

It had been a few hours since I was discharged from the hospital. I was under strict orders to not be physically active for the day. That wouldn’t be a problem for me, I wasn’t planning on taking up jogging the day I got out of the hospital or anything. So, I was sitting on the couch bored out of my mind. 11-7 was next to me; she had changed out of her armor when we got back and put on a loose white t-shirt. She was reacting to whatever was playing on the tv. 

My eyes started to drift closed but then I heard 11-7 say something. “Is there anything to do here besides watch television?

I opened my eyes and leaned over to look at her. “You know you can just call it TV.”

“T - V? I’ve heard you say that before.”

“Yeah, it’s short for television.”

“But that’s not what it is, it is a television set.”

She sounds like a fucking grandma. “Whatever, I don’t care how you want to say it.”

She rephrased her previous question. “Is there anything else to do indoors besides watch the television?”

“Already bored with watching TV?”

“No. Everything that is available right now I have already seen. You must have some other form of - entertainment?”

I almost wanted to make an inappropriate joke here, but decided against it. I looked away in thought for a few moments. “Hmmmmm, I do have an old game console, but I haven’t used it in a while.”

With the amount of time I’ve spent around her I had started to learn some of the intricacies of viper body language. The moment I said game console she became interested in what I was saying. Which was marked by her becoming extremely focused and deliberate with her movements. Her tongue flicked out of her mouth slower and it would hang in the air for longer than usual. “What is a - gai-ma consle ?”

I was nonchalant about it, I mean a game console was no great mystery to me. “It's a machine you can play video games on.”

She became more interested in what I had to say, and was about to speak, but I cut her off because I knew what she was going to ask. “A video game is like a movie that you can control.”

Her eyes lit up, and I saw understanding in her slitted pupils. “It’s like a simulation, then!”

I was caught off guard by her enthusiasm. “Yeah, I suppose. What do you mean by simulation?”

She was going to say something, but her words got caught in her mouth. She paused for a few moments, seemingly deciding whether to say it or not. “I’m not at liberty to discuss that.” Her head drooped slightly, and I got the impression she was disappointed that she couldn’t tell me.

I had to imagine her being hooked up to some kind of VR setup. Virtual Reality was still Sci-fi for the most part when I was a kid, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Advent figured it out. I stifled a laugh after imagining 11-7 being hooked up to a bunch of equipment. “Hey, it’s cool. I’ll get my console set up. Shouldn’t take me too long.” The head droop stopped after that.

I walked up to the entertainment center my TV was sitting on and opened up one of the drawers at the bottom. Inside was sitting a bunch of cables I never bothered to organize, 4 black controllers, and underneath that mess was a black box. I pulled out the cables and controllers to set them aside. I reached in and lifted out the box. it was coated in a thick layer of dust, an indicator of how little I’ve used it since I moved into this house. I held it in front of me and blew the dust off of it like an ancient tome from an abandoned library. And there, in the middle of a green circle at the top of the box I saw a familiar word that I haven’t read for a few years.

I saw something move out of the corner of my eye, and 11-7 leaned over me to read the word out loud. “Is it Zbox, or Ks-box?”

“Holy shit! Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

She backed off. “I apologise.”

“It’s ok. And it's - X - box by the way.” I got to work setting it up. My TV was older, it needed the component ports so that I could hook my Xbox up to it. Kept it from my days at the apartment. 

As I was hooking it up I heard her say something behind me. “This - Xbox looks old. Where did you acquire it?”

I spoke from behind the entertainment center as I plugged in the power cord. “It was my dad’s, he got it when he was - a young man. Course he’s a full time farmer, so as he got older he stopped having the time for things like that, so it became me and my brothers and sisters Xbox.”

“You shared it with siblings? Why do you have it now?”

I started fucking with the component cables, trying to make sure I plugged them in right. I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to make the cables a different color than the ports they plugged into. “Well, when - I moved to the city, I just took it with me. I liked it more than everyone else, and they had the newer version of it anyway, so I figured no one would miss it.” I finally got the cables plugged in right, and turned on the Xbox.

11-7 appeared to be mesmerized by the startup screen for a few moments before she came to her senses. “You stole it?”

I raised up my hands. “Now, now. Let’s not label me like I’m some kind of common criminal. They let me take it. My dad watched me put it in a box and didn’t say anything.”

She looked down at the Xbox on the floor as she spoke. “I understand.”

I walked towards my room. “I’m gonna go get the games for it.” I went into my closet and grabbed a small plastic tote from the back. I brought the tote into the livingroom to the clear delight of her.

I pulled off the lid and took a step back. “Take your pick.”

She tensed up to pounce on the tote, but stopped short. “Are you sure you want me to dig through your possessions?”

I laughed. “Go right ahead, you’re the one who gave me the idea anyway. Just be careful, don’t poke any holes in the cases.”

She nodded and started sifting through the tote. I sat on the couch and watched her look at each game case individually. She read some of them out loud and was constantly asking me questions about each one. I’ve played all those games like 20 times each, so I was able to answer every one. It was entertaining to watch her excitedly analyze them. She treated the cover like a work of art and read the back like some religious text. Each game she picked up was a treasure to be discovered and understood. It gave me a flashback to when my Dad pulled all of this out for the first time and I was the one asking all the questions about the games as he happily described them to me. I wonder if this was how he felt that day? Showing off something he loved to someone who had never heard of it. 

I sat there basking in that memory of happier and simpler times, before 11-7 brought me back to real life. “What is this one.” She held out a game I was familiar with, but dreaded explaining to her.

The cover read “Halo, Combat Evolved”. “Oh that, - it’s another war game, but it takes place in the future.”

“I want to try this one.” She started to look at the back, but I snatched it out of her grasp before she could read it. She looked at me and frowned. 

Shit, I’m pretty sure this game is contraband by Advent standards. I read the back and the first sentence was: Bent on humankind’s extermination, a fellowship of alien races known as the Covenant... Yeah, I’m gonna have to convince her to play something else. I pretended to be disinterested. “Oh, this game, It’s not real fun. There’s still plenty more to look at, you’ve only gone through half the tote.”

I think the fact I was discouraging her from playing it only made her more interested. She seemed resolute in her decision. “I want to play that Halo game. I am interested in what your species thought the evolution of combat would be.”

I can’t discourage her more, or she’ll start asking questions. Maybe we’ll play like 1 level and she’ll get bored. I can always hope. “Ok, I guess we can.” I begrudgingly walked up to the box and put the disk in. 11-7 was awestruck and tracked the disk tray as it moved out and back in. She was even more surprised when plugged in two controllers, and placed one in her hands. 

She turned the controller over in her hands, looking at it while she spoke. “What is this?”

“It’s a controller. Like the remote controls the TV, this controls the Xbox.”

She pointed at the controller I was holding. “But you have one too.” 

I was walking over to the couch to sit down as she asked me, luckily the controller’s chord was long enough for me to do that. “Yeah, we can both play it at the same time.”

She looked at the Xbox and back at me. “It is a cooperative game?” I nodded my head in response and she looked back at the Xbox. “This machine is more advanced than I thought it would be.” 

She joined me on the couch, unfortunately the chord wasn’t long enough for her to sit in her usual spot, so she had to sit much closer to me than usual. I found myself not minding it that much. She tried to figure out how to hold the controller and kept gripping it in weird ways, she even held it like a gun. I cleared my throat and that got her attention. “You hold it like this.” 

She looked at my hands and mimicked the way I had them positioned. I noticed her fingers were a lot longer than mine, even if she didn’t have claws, so she might have trouble holding it. I was about to explain to her how to use it, but she was pushing the buttons with her fingers instead of her claws, and she was holding it properly, so I didn’t bother. The design is intuitive enough, I suppose.

I heard gregorian chanting, which signaled that the game was on the main menu screen. “I’ll start it on normal difficulty, this game isn’t really hard.” 

As I went to click normal, she grabbed my arm. I turned to face her, and she looked upset. “Do you not think I am capable of winning this primitive combat simulation?” 

Her gaze was intense, I saw years maybe even decades of combat experience in those red slanted orbs. I never expected to get the grizzled veteran treatment from her. I looked down at my controller and attempted to reason with her. “I’m not saying you can’t. I’m just saying this is your first time holding a controller, and I haven’t played in years.”

She released my arm. “Do not fear. I will see us to victory.” I looked back at her and she slithered up on the couch to make herself taller than me. She was looking down at me and had a smirk plastered on her smug snakelike face. Her body oozed confidence. 

“You know what, sure.” I set the difficulty to legendary. Maybe this’ll teach her a little something about humility, or better yet - convince her to play something else.

The game started, and she was already running around the starting area. Seems like she got a handle on the controls easily enough. 

We were running through the opening portion where we didn’t have a gun, and she voiced her concerns with the articulation of a five year old. “Why do we not have weapons yet? When do we get to kill things? This simulation is boring.”

I chuckled and wagged a finger at her. “So impatient, we’ll get a gun when we get to the bridge.” 

She ignored my chastising. “How long will that take?” 

“In a bit, it gets exciting.”

A few moments later and she was face to face with the Covenant, specifically an elite and a few grunts. She faced her character towards them and watched as a sliding door closed in front of them. I was walking ahead, but she stayed there. I nervously glanced at her and she was clearly in thought. Squinted eyes, slow tongue flicks. I’m screwed, aren’t I?

She slowly turned her head to look at me. “Lucas, what are they, the Covenant soldiers? They don’t look human.”

I felt my heart rate increase and I decided to lie. “Oh the Covenant, yeah. They’re uh - mutants.”

She crossed her arms and looked at me like a mother who knew her child was lying. “ - Mutants. Mutants in space?”

I did not look directly at her. “Yeah, I mean it was a pretty original concept for the time, heh.” I’m not sure if she believed me, but she stopped asking me questions 

We eventually got out guns and then real fun began. 11-7 was doing better than I expected, but not by much. She was constantly getting hit and looking at the controller angrily. I was in my element, all that time I spent playing this game came flooding back to me. I was clearly carrying her, but I couldn’t tell if she was enjoying the game. She was completely focused and didn’t say much, I noticed her tail would shift around while we played, and that she would flick the tip of her tail when she got hit sometimes. 

Eventually she died, specifically from a plasma grenade that was stuck to her character, which elicited an annoyed hiss from her. She slumped back on the couch and crossed her arms. I tried to cheer her up. “Don’t worry, I can just go back to an area where there are no enemies and you’ll respawn.”

She looked at me and I saw hope in her eyes. “I get to keep playing?”

“Well yeah, it would kind of suck if you couldn’t respawn. This game is supposed to be fun.”

“I - understand.” 

I walked out of the battle and after a minute or so, she respawned and we were back in the action. She spoke as we finished off everyone in the room. “You said earlier that children played this? This is a game for children?”

I shook my hand in front of her. “Sort of, it was made for adults, but children played it too.”

“I am impressed. This primitive combat simulation is difficult, the fact that a child could win is surprising. And you won this, as a child?”

It was nice to get a compliment, but I didn’t see it as much of a feat. “I did, but keep in mind you can keep trying. The only way to lose this game is to quit playing.”

“Do not sell yourself short Lucas. I would be impressed if a fledgling viper could accomplish one of these - levels.” 

Initially I thought she was fucking with me or something, but she genuinly seemed impressed. “Thanks. You know, if you watch me while we’re playing, you may learn a thing or two.”

She snorted at my comment and went back to focusing on the game. We got through the rest of the first level just fine, and she was getting better at the game. The second level started and we walked out of an escape pod, and encountered more Covenant. 

We were killing them left and right, and made our way through the level. 11-7 looked like she was finally having some fun. I saw a hint of glee in her otherwise focused eyes. We made our way to a marker, where some other marines had survived. We killed more Covenant, and as the last elite was shot, something that I dreaded, but expected at this point, happened. One of the marines said “One Alien Down!”

I wanted to hope that she didn’t hear it, but when I glanced in her direction she was looking at me and frowning, more than usual. Her hands were on her humanlike snake hips, and the controller had been set down on my coffee table. “Lucas.”

I am about to be arrested by my own bodyguard. I paused the game and slowly turned my head to face her. “Yyyes?”

She pointed at the TV. “What did that digital human - just say?”

I faked a smile and shrugged. “Something about killing a creature unfamiliar to him.”

She put her hand under her chin and leaned on the back of the couch. “I am not a fool. I had my suspicions, but now I cannot pretend otherwise.” 

I gave in. “Ok, so there’s aliens in the game. It’s not that big of a deal.”

She scoffed and looked at the tv for a moment before looking back at me. “Not that big of a deal. Lucas, you play as humans, and are fighting against a multispecies alliance of aliens. This game is Anti-Advent propaganda.” 

I am so fucked. All the shit I’ve done for them, and now I’m gonna get canned for some stupid game I forgot about owning. I’ve got to say something. “I’m loyal to Advent, I have never once faltered with that. It’s just a game that only I have access to. I wasn’t going to distribute it to anyone.”

She crossed her arms and paused for a moment. She gestured to me and the game with one of her hands as she spoke. “I’ve seen your record, your loyalty is reliable, but I cannot allow you to keep this. It’s illegal.”

Well, at least I’m not getting arrested, but still I can’t just let her throw it away. Playing it reminded me, this is one of my favorite video games, and I’ve had a lot of good memories with it. “Come on, we’re friends, right? I won’t let anyone else play it.”

She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Are we friends?”

What is she getting at? “Sure we are, we’ve hung out enough haven’t we?”

She pointed at me. “Do not lie to me. I thought we were friends, until you did that interview with that female. I saw what you said.” 

That explains why she was acting weird after the interview. She must be so confused right now. “I’m sorry about that. Let me explain something.” How the fuck do I even explain this to a being that doesn’t interact with society much? I began. “There are - two of me. There is me, the Lucas that lives in this house, the Lucas that you know. And then there is Lucas the actor, he walks around in public. I have an image to maintain and I can’t let people - fill in the - blanks.” Damn I’m starting to sound like my manager.

After I finished speaking I saw her tail flick. “You have spoken about image before. How the public sees you, I understand...” She paused for a few moments, taking time to scan my face while she decided what to say. “I can’t believe you. You told me yourself that you are a professional pretender. How do I truly know you’re not just saying all this so I don’t dispose of your game?” She regarded me with a serious expression, and it felt like she was interrogating me. 

Huh, I hadn’t realized she valued our friendship at all. I mean whether she wanted to be my friend never crossed my mind. Are we friends? What even is a friend? I could just say yes and move on, but I didn’t want to lie to her, she deserved an actual answer. It took me a few moments, but I reached a conclusion. I looked at her eyes. I hadn’t really considered how autonomous she was until now. Sure I have been enjoying hanging out with her, but I couldn’t say I thought she was capable of doing things Advent didn’t directly approve. Caring about a relationship is a distinctly human trait. Maybe now I saw a soul behind those eyes, real emotion. Perhaps even a reflection of myself, both literally and metaphorically. “In the beginning I was scared of you.” She rolled her eyes again and stopped looking at me. “I know you knew that, I was just - admitting it. Over time I adjusted, and I’m no longer scared of you. Huh, I mean you bit me, and here I am playing video games with you. That’s gotta count for something, right.” 

She turned around to face me after that, interested in what I had to say now. “That’s true, you did humor me after we returned from the hospital.” She played with her hands as she spoke and looked down at them. “And it was my fault you were there in the first place.” 

“Hey it’s fine, don’t worry about it. I mean I enjoy hanging out with you. Hell, you fuckin watched over me for two whole days. I don’t think I know anyone that would do that for me, even if you were just doing your job.” I paused for a moment to decide if I should say this or not, but fuck it. “If I’m being honest I feel indebted to you because you didn’t leave me to die on my bed like an idiot.”

I noticed her body stiffened a little. “That is my assignment Lucas, to keep you alive.”

“Does that not make us friends?”

She looked down. “I am not sure. I haven’t had many friends.”

I tried to ease some of the tension, and now - sadness, in the room, by giving her an endearing smack on the back. “Well, you have one now.” I smiled as I hit her back.

She moved away from me quickly and lowered herself onto the couch in some kind of a defensive posture. Her hood was wide and her tongue was flicking out slowly. I put my hands up. “Sorry, I uh, wasn't - attacking you. It was a friendly slap.”

She squinted her eyes and observed me for a few moments before relaxing. “Friendly - slap. You humans have odd gestures of friendship.” 

I shrugged in a comedic manner. “Some of us do anyway.” I grabbed her controller and tried to hand it to her. “ You know, if you confiscate the game we won’t be able to play it together anymore.” 

Her eyes darted between the controller and me. She crept forward and snatched it out of my hands before sitting down and getting comfortable on the couch. She tossed a sly look my way as she spoke. “I will make an exception this time, since we are friends, but if anyone else finds out we are both in trouble.” 

I grabbed my controller and unpaused the game. “I guess we’d better make it worth the risk then.”

The levels seem to pass bye, as we played the game. 11-7 started talking after a few hours, she stopped taking the game as seriously and started to comment on things that happened. Making fun of me when I died, complaining when she died, she even was trying to make small talk with me. It was nice. Before I had her as my bodyguard I felt like a prisoner in my own house at times. Even though I’ve never done anything that would piss off Advent, living with three troopers made me feel like if I ever did, I would be arrested immediately. She made an exception for me in this instance. I wasn’t even sure Advent soldiers, especially the alien ones, were capable of doing that. Whatever the case, I’m certainly not complaining. I’d much rather have a friend in my house than a prison guard. For the first time since she arrived, I think I was actually happy she got assigned to me. 

All this self reflection had an affect on my game performance, and I got killed. 11-7 laughed at me, and told me I should use cover more. She walked backwards and I respawned. We both charged back at the aliens that had killed me before.

As we were killing them, she made a comment that caught me off guard. “I’ve studied your history somewhat, you know.” She paused for a few moments. “Your species’ history, I mean.”

I wasn’t really listening to her and was focused on the game. “Yeah, that’s cool.”

She kept going. “I don’t understand, your history and media are filled with war and battle and conflict, but before Advent liberated you there were no recent conflicts between major powers.”

I still wasn’t paying much attention. “Huh, oh that’s probably because of the nukes. Mutually assured destruction and all that.”

“Yes, the - nuclear weapons your civilization managed to develop. Crude but effective. The more I understand about your society, the more I understand why the Elders are so interested in your species.”

That caught my attention. “Are you suggesting we have some kind of warrior culture or something?” 

She chuckled in a snake sort of a way. “It’s not a suggestion Lucas, it is an observation. You are so clearly obsessed with it, even from an early age.”

She seemed so sure of her assessment, which upset me. “Oh, come on. There is plenty of human media that is not related to war or conflict.”

She smiled, like really smiled. I’m talking grinning from ear to ear. Well, if she had ears. “Yes, but which do you like more?”

I thought back on my childhood, and honestly pretty much everything I watched and played had some amount of violence in it. I couldn’t really argue with her. “Ok, so there may be some truth to that. But what about your culture? I have yet to see a Viper baker.”

She stopped playing and looked down at her controller. She fiddled with the thumbsticks with one of her claws, and it was a long time before she responded. “I - We don’t have culture.”

I didn’t believe her, but I paused the game. “What do you mean you don’t have a culture?”

She set down the controller and looked at me. I heard a sigh escape her lips before she responded. “We are born and bred to be soldiers. We are not like you, we do not live separately from Advent, we are Advent.”

That’s some heavy shit, I didn’t expect her to open up like that. “So, you don’t have - like - any music, art, architecture, food, stories even?”

She shook her head. “No, we are just soldiers. The only thing we have is our own language, but we are only permitted to speak Advent while on duty. ”

“That’s cool, that you have your own language, I mean. What does it sound like?” 

She smiled at me and spoke a sentence of what I assume was her language. I was prepared to hear something stereotypical of a snake, namely just a lot of S’s, but it was different. There were a lot of consonants and some of the sounds she made I had never heard in human language before. I’d assume some of those sounds were only capable of being produced by a creature with a long prehensile tongue. Some of what she said I couldn’t really sound out in my head.

“I didn’t expect it to sound like that. What did you say?”

She gestured to me and to the tv “I said I am enjoying this activity with you.”

“Happy to hear. It sounds, uh, unique. But I doubt I could ever speak it though. Don't have the proper equipment.” I chuckled after saying that. 

Her eyes widened a little and she shook her hands at me. “Oh no no no. Don’t worry, you don’t have to learn. I speak the human tongue, it is easier this way.”

“That’s true.” I paused for a few moments thinking of what to say next. “You’re not from Earth. I mean I never heard stories about Vipers before Advent arrived. Don’t you have a home planet to return to, or to visit?”

She shrugged her shoulders, and I saw a deep sadness in her eyes. Not the kind that would produce tears, but disappointment. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve only known the inside of a spaceship and earth.”

“Damn, I’m sorry. I can’t - imagine living like that. Not having a home, a culture, a past history to be proud of. That would suck.” I wish I could say more, but I’ve never been good at comforting people before. 

It was then I noticed how close 11-7 and I were sitting. I think she noticed too because she scooched away slightly. “It is ok. My sisters don’t understand why this is bad, but I am happy to see you understand.” She blinked her eyes a few times and smiled at me. “Let us continue the game.” 

So we kept playing Halo, well into the night. About halfway through it I turned down the difficulty because we started dying too much and we were both getting angry about it. Playing this game with her was the most fun I’d had in a long time. Granted, it wasn’t contending with much. Really helped me forget about the failures of last night, or 3 nights ago I should say. Eventually we beat it, and I felt a wave of nostalgia while we were watching the final cutscene. She was sad that the game was over, but I reassured her that there was a sequel. She wanted to play it right now, but I was dozing off a little there on the last level, so I told her I was going to bed. But, I gave her permission to use the Xbox whenever she wanted to, much to her delight. I think I’d enjoy having her ability to not need sleep as much, especially these days. We exchanged goodnights, and I went to my room.

I climbed into my bed, and plugged in my phone. By all accounts I should be terrified of her, I mean she almost killed me. But, I’m just not, seeing how she lives firsthand has all but eliminated that fear. I mean if she was staring daggers at me all hours of the day and being silent, like how every Viper I’ve come across has acted in public, I would still be scared of her, but she isn’t. It makes me wonder if the aliens have more autonomy than the troopers. All those years that I lived with the troopers they never once spoke to me about anything other than business, they were like robots. Since she doesn’t have a culture, or even a home planet it really makes me think. What if the Elders just grabbed a few of them to clone, and never bothered making an alliance with them. But if they did, why not do that with us? Whatever the reason I can see why they keep us separate. It was a small gesture, not destroying my game, but it said a lot. Maybe other Vipers harbor some sort of empathy for humanity. If 11-7 does, then there must be others. I really should be getting to sleep, as much as I’m dreading it. Something tells me I won’t be lucky with not having dreams like I was when I was comatose in bed for the last 3 days.


	8. Chapter 8

I heard a steady beeping sound again, and sat up in bed. I frantically looked around. I was in my room, and not at the hospital. That was a relief, I shut my alarm off. Then I remembered it, my dream. I leaned forward and rubbed my temples. I was there again, in the limo, helpless and alone. The gun, it saved me, but only temporarily. I saw the blood again, it was all over me, I couldn’t get it off. Those terrorists dragged me out, and they beat me until I was weak. A viper came over and... I don’t want to think about that. They’re still not going away. How long has it been now, a week, maybe longer? Will they ever go away? I looked around my room again, and let out a sigh. They’re just dreams, they can’t hurt me now that I’m awake. I’ll go and get some water.

I threw on the first thing I found, which was a white t-shirt and shorts, and left my room. I didn’t take in my surroundings as I walked, I was completely focused on getting a glass of water. There was something playing on the TV, but I didn’t hear it too well. I grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it with some water from the dispenser on the fridge. I watched the level of water steadily rise in the glass as I held it against the button. Once it was full, I drank it slowly, savoring that cool sweetness sliding down my throat. It was comforting, reminded me I was awake now. I felt someone tap on my shoulder, so I turned around. 

There was a viper in front of me now. I felt my fight or flight reaction kick in as it spoke to me. “Lucas, can you help me?” She had a confused look to her.

I relaxed slightly. It was the Viper I knew. Can’t believe I got scared like that. “With, with what?” 

11-7 crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “The - showering facilities. I asked you the moment you left your room, but you ignored me.”

I rubbed my eyes with my free hand and took a deep breath. “Sure, can you... give me a minute.”

Her tongue flicks slowed and she squinted her eyes. She leaned her head forward, closer to my face and examined me. “Are you alright?”

I looked at the glass of water I was holding and blinked my eyes slowly. “Yeah, I just woke up. I need a minute.”

She still looked slightly concerned, but she nodded her head and slithered off to the bathroom. 

I turned to face the fridge and continued to stare at my water. These dreams aren’t going to go away on their own, are they? I guess I’ll have to keep trying to forget, there’s not much else I can do. Well, besides going to a clinic, but if I wanted to live in a chemically induced fantasy I’d smoke crack. At least then the tap wouldn’t be controlled by Advent. It would end up becoming another way they’d control me. I finished off the rest of my water and made my way over to the bathroom. 

My head was tilted downwards as I walked in. I looked upwards once I was standing on cool floor tiles. I saw the grey tiles, passed my bathroom mat, saw the bathtub, then I spotted creamy white scaled plates accented with orange at the sides. I followed those plates up. I almost made it to her chest before I realized she was not wearing a shirt. 

Suddenly I was no longer tired. I slammed my eyes shut and exclaimed the first thing that came to mind. “Woah! Why in god's name are you naked?”

I could not see her, but the sassiness was palatable. I could almost see her putting her hands on her hips as she spoke. “I asked for your help using the shower. I can not use it if I am clothed.” 

“Wait a second, if you don’t know how to use the shower that means you haven’t used it since you got here.” 

I heard her chuckle. “Yes, well I am not shedding hair - and skin - everywhere - all the time, like you. I shed cleanly once a month, so I do not get filthy as fast as you do.” 

“I’ll take your word for it, just put on a shirt - please. I can show you how to use the shower and then I’ll leave.” 

I heard her claws scratch the bathroom sink’s counter. Her voice sounded semi-muffled as she spoke. “You humans are such prudes, I don’t understand why. But it was humorous to see your reaction.”

I didn’t appreciate being mocked. “Your - tits - are hanging out. People don’t just do that out of nowhere.”

“Why not?” I’d assume she was fucking with me, but her tone sounded geuninly curious.

“It’s uh, more of an intimate thing...”

She was silent for a few moments. “I do not understand. How?”

She couldn’t have picked a better time to ask me about this. Oh who am I kidding I wouldn’t be comfortable talking about this with her anytime. “Look, I uh. I don’t exactly feel - comfortable discussing that with you right now.”

I heard her snort. “So prudish, can’t even say why. Maybe you are scared. My body is not scary, - you can look if you want.” 

While some parts of her were scarier than others, I was more interested to take her up on that offer than I cared to admit. “ - Can you just put on a shirt, so that...” 

She cut me off with a laugh. “I put on my shirt a long time ago. See for yourself.”

I slowly opened my eyes, prepared to shut them if I didn’t see any fabric. I saw the crinkles of fabric and the shadows it cast, so I fully opened my eyes. There in the tub was 11-7. She was wearing a white T-shirt and a smug look. “Thank - you.” Was all I could think to say as I walked up to the bathtub.

On my approach I got a strange feeling, a primal feeling. Not - that - kind of a primal feeling. I felt like I was being stalked, hunted even. I looked up at her and she was studying me closely as I walked up. It felt like she was purposely hiding her body language from me. She was planning something, something - mischievous I think. The tub was too big for me to reach the knobs from the edge, so I had to climb in. 

Once I stepped into the tub it felt like I had entered the lair of a great beast, and there was no turning back. Her body was lazily laid out around the edges of the tub, and she moved so I could make it to the shower knobs. It was hard not to notice I was surrounded on all sides by her. She moved up close to me as I explained how the knobs worked, and how to plug up the tub if she wanted to have a bath. I showed her how to use the detachable shower head, and I even pointed out where I kept the towels. The whole time she didn’t say much, just nodded her head mostly. I wanted to say it was my mind playing tricks on me, but I could swear she was repositioning her body as I was talking to her. Against my better judgment I ignored the warnings my instincts were sounding off. 

It didn’t take me long to finish that up, I mean it’s a damn shower, not a rocketship. As smart as I thought she was, she apparently needed to be shown how to use everything in this house. “Well that about sums it up. Pretty easy to figure out. If it gives you any trouble let me know. Sometimes the water heater can be finicky.” 

She didn’t respond, but her body started to move. I kept talking to hide my nervousness. “Uh, heh. I keep asking Advent to replace it, but they’re really dragging their feet...” 

She still wasn’t responding, and kept moving. She had a focused expression on her face, but I couldn’t place the intent behind it. My discomfort had reached its peak, I got spooked and tried to jump out of the tub. I was stopped short by her body, she had raised part of it in front of me, and now I was lifted in the air slightly by her tail. I leaned backwards and slid off of it back into the tub on my feet. I looked at her. “What are you, uh - doing?” I laughed nervously.

She smiled and looked me up and down. It almost felt like she was appraising me. She wasn’t coiled around me, but she had positioned her body so I could not leave the bathtub. I waited, time ticked by and she didn’t say anything. After she had examined me for a bit her expression changed. The focus in her eyes petered out and she seemed disappointed. Then, just as I was about to try to jump out again, she spoke. “Still scared of me?” I was about to respond to that, but I felt something smack me on the back of the shoulder, and she yelled. “Friendly slap!” I looked over my shoulder and saw the tip of her tail hovering there. She wiggled it in a waving motion when I looked at it. Just like that the tension in the room was gone and she moved her body out of the way. 

Not taking any chances I scrambled over her and got out of the tub. When I turned around she had a hand over her mouth and she was snickering. I started laughing a little too, now that I realized she was just fucking with me. I pointed at her. “You knew exactly what you were doing. I’ll get you back for that.”

She kept laughing as she spoke. “You - are so jumpy, I didn’t - have to touch you, didn’t have to say anything. There’s no need to be afraid.”

I shrugged. “Hey, lets see how uncomfortable you’d get if I was twice as big as you, and surrounding you in a bathtub.” I laughed after saying that. 

“Yes, you are not long enough for that.” She stopped talking for a few moments and quieted her laughter. Then she got a cheeky look in her eye. “Want to see something - interesting?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Sure, what?” I saw her hands shoot towards the bottom of her shirt and begin to lift up. I spun around 180 degrees, walked out of the bathroom, and closed the door behind me. I could still hear her laughing as I sat down on the couch. I chuckled to myself as I thought about that. What a weirdo, guess that’s what I get for being friends with an alien. That was such a strange interaction I don’t even know what to make of it. Probably just her trying to prank me or something, I have to get her back for that. 

What to do today, I should probably stretch my legs a little since I’ve been inactive for 3 days. I went to go get some breakfast, but I heard my doorbell ring, so I went to answer the door instead. 

I wonder who it could be. I looked through my peephole and saw someone unexpected. Standing on my porch was my neighbor from across the street: Franklin. He was pretty plain looking, greying hair combed to the side, black framed glasses. A blue button up shirt paired with khakis. He looked chipper, so I opened the door.

He smiled once he saw me. “Mornin Lucas.” He looked around. “Nice weather today.”

“Hey Frank. Yeah, I was thinking about going on a walk. You know, stretch my legs a little.” 

He nodded. “You should check out Slader Park, it’s real nice this time of year.”

I rubbed my chin as I thought. “Slader Park, I’ve heard of it. I just might go.”

“It’s great, I still go up there with Maggie sometimes.” He paused for a few moments. “It’s good to hear that you’re ok. Some of us were worried about you. Saw you get carted off in an ambulance a few days ago, and haven’t heard from you since. I saw you got back yesterday, and figured I’d come over and check up on you.”

“Oh that, yeah. I had an accident, had to stay in the hospital a few days. Nothing too serious.”

He looked curious, but didn’t press me. Probably out of politeness. “I see, seems like you’re ok now, if you’re planning on going on a walk.” 

I nodded. “Doing a lot better now.”

He looked behind me and into my house. “Where’s your new bodyguard? Jim and Judy mentioned you got a new one to me this weekend at the bonfire they were having.”

Word gets around I suppose. “She’s busy with - something - at the moment.”

He looked slightly disappointed. “That’s too bad I was hoping I could meet her. Another time then. - Is she really a, a snake?”

“Yeah, they’re called Vipers. You’ve seen them around haven’t you?”

“Sure, sure, I’ve seen them around, just never up close... I know some people gave you a hard time in the neighborhood when those rumors about you came out. I wanted to let you know no one here on street q12 believes that garbage, and neither do I.” He looked kind of angry and he pointed behind himself at the neighborhood as he spoke, but that’s just how he was when he was being serious. 

That made me smile. “Thanks man. It’s been tough these last few days.” 

He looked back at me. “You’re welcome. I’ll tell you though, and I’m sure you’ve already thought about this. But, if you got a new girlfriend people would stop telling these lies.”

I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders. “I mean I’m keeping my eyes open but that’s easier said than done.”

He laughed. “I hear you. I’ll tell you what, you’ll never know where you’ll meet her until you do, and it’ll be in the strangest place. I met my wife at a garage sale, we both wanted the same rug. I let her have it, if she’d let me come over and see it sometimes.”

“Yeah, you’re right, maybe I should go rug shopping. I bet I’d run into plenty of women under 50.” Frank laughed at my joke. “But, It’s not a big deal anymore. I’ve been feeling much better since I did the interview.” 

“Good, I didn’t catch it, but my daughter told me about it.” 

I didn’t really want to be talking to Frank all day, so I tried to end the conversation. “It was good to hear from you, but I got stuff to do...”

He nodded, but as I was shutting the door he had something else to say. “Oh, I just remembered what I wanted to ask you. I’m having a barbeque this weekend. My kids are back from college for spring break and I wanted to celebrate. I’m inviting everyone on the street, like I always do. Did you want to come?”

That piqued my interest. “As if I could say no to free barbeque. When is it?”

“Saturday at noon, but you can come down whenever. I’ll start cooking at noon. And uh, you’re bodyguard - is she...”

I answered the question he was taking too long to ask. “Yeah she is more lively than the troopers; I don’t think she’d start any trouble either. - I don’t have to bring her if you don’t want me to, but I’ll probably bring her back a plate.” 

He looked around for a few moments in thought and rubbed that back of his head. “Uhh, if you think she’ll be a good guest you can bring her. I trust you.”

I nodded. “In that case, I will. You probably won’t have any leftovers though.”

He chuckled. “That’s fine we always have too many anyway.” He turned to leave and waved at me. “I’ll see you saturday.”

“See you then.” I shut my door. 

As I walked back into the livingroom I heard 11-7 yell from the bathroom. “Lucas! How do I shut off the shower?” 

I laughed and walked up to the bathroom door. “If you can’t figure that out yourself, you don’t deserve to use the shower anymore.” I heard her giggling in there after I said that. I sat down on the couch and watched some TV, I’m sure there’s something decent on. 

I wasn’t sitting there alone for long, eventually she came out of the bathroom and joined me, donning a black tank top that had Advent written across her chest in white text. I went to the bathroom soon after she left it and saw there were like 5 towels hanging up. 

Once I finished my business I yelled from the hallway. “Damn, how many towels do you need to use?”

She put a claw up to her chin and pretended to think about it. “I believe it was five.”

“That’s a lot.”

She snorted and gestured to herself. “For you maybe. I was being modest, I could have used more.”

I chuckled. “I believe you, just make sure you wash them because I don’t want to accidentally use one of yours.”

“Worried you’ll get a disease? I should ensure I don’t use your’s; you are the one who sheds skin everywhere.”

I chuckled and sat down on the couch. “Speaking of which, you should let me know when you do shed, maybe I can make a pair of snakeskin boots, or a hat.” She crossed her arms and cocked her head as I continued. “Oh, who am I kidding. With how big you are, I could probably get an entire outfit, jacket, pants, belt, and all the rest.” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t look so glum, I’d let you wear the jacket and the hat sometimes.”

I laughed at my own joke, and she shook her head. “Would you wear clothes made of your own dead skin?” 

I shrugged and kept laughing. “I might, if that were possible.”

She grabbed the remote and turned up the volume on the tv, but I saw her crack a smile. I started messaging Manny on my phone. I told him I was alive, and well. He was pleased to hear from me and apologized for 11-7 almost killing me. He sent me this huge message that I skimmed through. But, what he said next surprised me, he offered to replace her if I wanted to, and assured me he would understand if I did. 

I looked up from my phone and at her. She was lounging on the couch like she usually did. Most of her body was on the couch, but she was too - long - to fit it all on, so some of it was on the floor. The tip of her tail was swaying back and forth while she watched tv. Kinda cute, well in a giant alien snake sort of a way, I guess. 

As I was looking at her she looked back at me. We stared at each other for a few moments, I saw confusion in her crimson eyes at first, but then she smiled at me, I smiled back. No words needed to be exchanged, replacing her wasn’t something I’d even entertain. She turned her head to watch tv, and I gave my manager my answer. He was fine with it, after all it was less work for him to do, and he approved my outing to Slader Park.

-

We hung out in the house for an hour or two before we left. 11-7 was interested in going to the park. It wasn’t too far from my neighborhood, so I decided to hoof it. We made it through the checkpoint and were on our way to the park. Traffic on the way there wasn’t too bad, so we didn’t have to wait long at the cross walks. Some people looked at her, but no one was looking at me. I guess being in a coma for two days made me old news, and I was perfectly fine with that. Soon enough I saw the sign for Slader park.

It was an oasis surrounded by a concrete desert. Green grass, flowers, trees, a lake, and plenty of open space. It would probably be some nice scenery for a walk. As we entered the park I realized I was a little short-winded from the journey there, and I saw a perfectly placed bench under a tree in some shade.

I pointed over at the park bench. “Let’s have a seat for a bit.”

11-7 looked at me and nodded. We both made our way to the bench, and I sat down. She stayed standing, well standing as much as a snake could anyway. I noticed my sunglasses had a smudge on them, so I cleaned them off with my shirt and watched her as I did. She was constantly scanning our surroundings, laser focused on finding potential threats, taking extra care to analyze the people passing by us. They, of course, kept their distance. I don’t think most people would want to get close to anyone brandishing a plasma rifle, much less a giant armored alien cobra holding one. It was so strange, she is always like this when we leave my neighborhood. It was a stark contrast to how calm she seemed at home. I wish I could tell her to relax, but I’m not so sure that would be a good idea. I could still talk to her at least.

I put my cleaned sunglasses back on. “Anything out of place?”

She didn’t look at me. “Nothing, yet.”

I waited for her to say something else, but she didn’t. I gestured in front of me. “Nice day isn’t it? Not a cloud in the sky, and there’s a nice breeze.”

I saw her nod, but she was more interested in everything around us. “Yes.”

She’s really not giving me much to work with, is she? Whatever, guess I’ll just think out loud. “It’s uh, crazy the things you take for granted. When I was younger I could go outside and get scenery like this whenever I wanted, but there were no people and no noise pollution. Just the wind blowing through the trees and the birds tweeting. Though this is still nice.”

11-7 caught me off guard and spoke up. She looked at me over her shoulder while she spoke. “Do you miss it? Being on your farm.”

I chuckled and leaned forward. “So, you are listening.”

“I am always listening, Lucas.” She went back to facing forward. 

Not too closely I hope. “Okay. Uh yeah, sometimes I miss it. Things were simpler there, more serene too. Didn’t have to worry about the future back then, well - before the liberation anyway. Now I gotta be worried about being killed every time I leave my neighborhood it seems.”

She kept scanning the area. “That must be difficult.”

“It is, - but seeing you doing your job makes it a little easier to relax.”

She nodded, but didn’t respond. I stood up. “Well, I’ve been sitting long enough, s’pose I should walk around, like I planned to.”

We walked around for a bit, I was trying to find an area that had less people in it so our conversation would be a little less one sided. As we walked around most people only gave us passing glances. It was normal to see Advent troops patrolling around the city, so seeing one in the park did not interest anyone. Eventually I found an area that no one was hanging around in. It was the area surrounding the statue of General Slader at the center of the park. It was a nice area, all things considered. There were some flower beds, and a few benches. The statue itself was modestly sized, and was bronze in color. Guess it was a coincidence no one was here. 11-7 seemed to calm down slightly once there were less people around. I walked over and skimmed the plaque under the statue. 

It said something about on this day August 15th, 2015 General Douglas Slader, under orders to fight against the Elders, commanded his army to stand down, saving countless lives. There was more written, but I didn’t bother reading it. 

I heard her say something once I finished reading it. “Anything interesting on that plaque?”

I turned around to face her. She was still looking around, but she really did look a lot calmer. I noticed her tongue was flicking out more now. “Not really, just some General not listening to his orders during the liberation.” 

She kept looking around. “It is interesting that he would disobey his superiors.”

I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders. “Yeah, well, some of us are pretty good at that. For better or for worse.” 

She nodded. “I agree, it would be situation dependent.” She didn’t speak for a few moments. “Do you think he did the right thing?”

That question caught me off guard. I didn’t want to lie, so I just spoke my mind. “He probably saved a lot of lives, both human and alien, but it wasn’t very honorable of him to just surrender like that. Course - how much honor is there in death, really.”

She smiled and held her head high. “There is much honor in death. I would sooner die, than surrender to the terrorists.”

I can’t imagine thinking like that. Does she really not value her own life? “You’d throw your life away, just like that?”

She looked confused for a few moments and then her expression changed to a serious one as she spoke. “It would not be -thrown - away - as you say. I have a duty and a responsibility to Advent, and to you, Lucas.”

That took the wind out of my sails. “Oh...” I was trying to think about what to say next, but I noticed her skin was glistening. At first I thought it was a trick of the light, so I walked a little closer. As I did I saw droplets on her face. “Are, are - you - wet?”

She looked at me and cocked her head slightly. “Yes, the temperature is high.” She gestured towards the sky. “I am perspiring. You are doing it as well?” 

“You can sweat? I thought you were a reptile?”

She turned her head side to side and didn’t see anyone around us. She dropped her rifle to her side, and gestured at me and to herself while she talked. “Lucas, I am not from earth. The evolution of your - reptiles - has no bearing on my sspecies’ss evolution.” I giggled a little as she messed up the pronunciation of species, and she frowned in response. 

“Hmm, that makes sense. It’s kind of hard for me to not make comparisons though.”

She put her free hand on her hip. “I could compare you to other things as well, but I won’t unless you give me a reason to.”

I laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

I saw her tongue flick out and hang in the air in the direction the breeze was blowing for a few seconds. She tensed up and gripped her rifle. I turned around to see what she was looking at. After a few seconds I heard the sound of bikes pedaling. Then some guy and a girl rode past the statue on bikes. They didn’t even look at either of us, they were too busy looking at each other.

I looked back at 11-7, she wasn’t as tense anymore. “Wow, that tongue of yours is pretty handy. You could smell them before I could even hear them.”

She nodded. “It is when there are not so many of you around. You have a - strong scent.” She paused for a few moments and looked around. “Is this all you do at a park?”

“You mean, like hang out.”

“Yes, - hang - out -. Do nothing?” 

I shook my head. “No hang out means to like be somewhere, usually with other people. You can do things, but you don’t have to.” 

“I - understand.”

I smacked my lips and realized my mouth was a little dry. “I don’t know about you, but I’m thirsty. Is there a water fountain around here?”

She pointed at something behind the statue by a flower bed. “There.”

“Nice.” I walked over to where she pointed. It was a standard water fountain that had a button right on the dispenser, this one was made of stone though, and actually looked kind of nice. Advent probably didn’t build it. As I was getting my drink, it was my turn for a mischievous idea. I realized there may be a way I could prank 11-7 for this morning. I stopped halfway through my drink and pressed lightly on the button. The water didn’t come out enough for me to drink. 

I pretended to examine the dispenser. “I think there’s something blocking the dispenser, could you come take a look. You probably have better eyes than me.”

I looked back at her and she snorted. “I can.” Once she slithered up to the water fountain she dropped her rifle to her side and I moved out of the way, still holding my finger on the button. She looked at the water fountain, but did not get close to it. “I don’t see anything.”

I pointed at the dispenser. “Look closer, I’m pretty sure I saw something. She leaned her head forward and looked into the hole of the dispenser. She had brought her face close enough to the water fountain, so I made my move. I pushed down on the button and it squirted some water on her face. 

She jerked away from the fountain and turned her head to the side as she wiped the water off of her eye with her free hand. She looked back at me and frowned. 

I smiled and made a finger gun gesture with my hand. “Hey, I warned ya. I told you I’d get you back for this morning.”

She lifted her chin up and snorted. “Clever, but I will not fall for it twice.” 

I laughed. “It only had to work once.” 

I was starting to worry that she wasn’t gonna be a good sport about my little prank, but she smiled and let loose a laugh of her own. “You understand I will have to - get you back - now.”

I nodded at her. “Good luck.” 

We walked around the park some more, and after a while I got tired, so we decided to go home. We ended up exiting the park at the other end because that’s where we happened to be when I wanted to leave. I ended up taking us on a weird route home, and got us a little lost. 11-7 suggested we should cut through the train station to get us back on familiar territory, which sounded like a great idea.

The train station wasn’t very big, Advent didn’t use these for transporting people, just on loading and off loading cargo. There were plenty of sensors around, but since we weren’t going near the train we didn’t need to go through any checkpoints. As we walked through I got a strange feeling, the area was being heavily patrolled. There were a lot of troopers, a few sectoids, some vipers and even an Advent Mech. 

One of the troopers walked up to us and addressed 11-7 in Advent. She responded and he walked back to where he was before.

I started to get nervous. “Heh, lotta soldiers around here, huh.”

She nodded at one of the train cars. “Important cargo. We are free to pass through.”

“Good. Let’s pass through, a little faster. I don’t want to hang around here and get arrested.” 

There were some other people here too. They were standing in a group over by a bench chatting, and there was an old woman sitting on a different bench by herself. She looked bored and her eyes lazily drifted around. As we were walking past them I felt someone grab my hand, and I heard gunfire. There was a sectoid like 20 feet in front of me, I watched as its head exploded into lime green chunks and its body flopped onto the ground like a limp fish. 

11-7 yanked me over the benches and got low behind it. “Keep low! Don’t make yourself a target!” 

The Advent troops all sprung into action and started shooting. That group of people that were talking made themselves scarce, but the old lady stayed right where she was. I saw some rebels poke out from the rooftops, and a few were on the ground. An explosion went off, and 11-7 started to return fire with her plasma rifle over the bench. 

I just sat next to her, trying to keep myself from panicking. I felt it again, that dark shadow over me. Before, when I was in the limo I didn’t notice it, I was numb to it because I didn’t know how to react. But I was feeling it now, death looming over me. It was happening again, why was it happening again. Why now? My heart rate increased and I got the urge to just get up and sprint the hell out of here. To get away from this bloodbath as fast as possible and to forget I was even here. It sounded like a good idea until I realized if I did that I would probably get shot immediately. I’ve got to keep ahold of myself. I have no combat experience whatsoever, so I have to stay here and listen to 11-7, it’ll be my best chance. But one stray grenade is all it would take, I wouldn’t be able to get out of the way in time.

I looked at her, she was entirely focused on combat. As far as I knew she didn’t even know I was here anymore. I am so fucked, and I don’t even have a gun this time. I didn’t even have the illusion of being able to defend myself. I peeked through a slit on the bench to see what was going on. I watched one of these rebels vault over the cover he was behind, charge a trooper with a machete. He had on the standard grey armor they all wear, and it was stained with orange splatters as he brutally cut down the Advent trooper. This guy swung his machete at least 12 times. The whole time he had this manic look on his face, wide eyed with a big smile, and he was laughing the whole time he was chopping. He ducked behind cover when he was finished. All this advanced tech Advent has, all these alien freaks with psychic powers that they command, and I just witnessed one of their soldiers get chopped up with a machete like a fucking cartel victim. The only way this would have been more insane is if he used a wooden club like a damn caveman. These terrorists are nuts. 

The Advent mech let loose a volley of rockets at one of the buildings the rebels were on top of, and destroyed half of it. It crumbled in on itself and coated the surrounding area in debris, spreading fire everywhere. I was in shock, one mech was able to destroy that much in like 12 seconds. Advent clearly doesn't care about property damage, so long as they killed all these rebels. I saw an RPG get shot from one of the other buildings, and the missile hit the mech right in the chest. The shrapnel produced by the missile shredded the Advent trooper and the viper that were near the mech. 

The old woman that was sitting on a bench watched this all unfold, completely unfazed. After watching that trooper get hacked up, she stood up and calmly walked over towards the rebel with a machete. When she was about halfway there, I - well - she fucking shapeshifted into a monster. It was like 8ft tall and looked like something out of a goddamn horror movie. It was giant and pink and, and goopy looking, like it was made out of wet clay. It had these long black gruesome claws - three on each hand. The rebel stopped laughing, and dread spread across his face as this freakish thing hobbled right up to him. The monster slashed at him with its claws. They cut through his armor, and the metal barrier he was next to, like a hot knife through butter. I saw blood leaking out of the tears in his armor and some of it had splattered onto the ground, staining the light colored concrete red. He pulled out a shotgun and pumped a few rounds into it. The bullets ripped chunks off of it, and when pieces of that thing hit the ground they dissolved into a liquid. It seemed unfazed by the damage and raised an arm to slash at him again. He held up the shotgun to block its attack and it ripped one of his arms off. It soared through the air and landed outside of my vision. I turned away from the carnage. I - I’m going to die here, aren’t I? And if the rebels don’t kill me, the giant shape-shifting monster will. 

My fear reached its peak, I couldn’t think straight. I covered my ears and hoped it would be over soon. I watched 11-7 pop in and out of cover next to me, shooting at things I didn’t want to see anymore. She looked stoic as she fought, completely unaffected by the events transpiring in front of her. I wish I could be like her in that way: no regrets, no fear, completely focused on the task at hand. I doubt she’ll ever have to deal with nightmares of this day. I turned to my left and saw a trooper say something to her. I wasn’t sure what he said because they always speak Advent around me, but I looked over at her, and she was tensing up. I got the feeling he was telling her to move up. I wasn’t sure what to do, I couldn’t imagine being alone in a situation like this, again. This time it was even worse, I wasn’t inside a bulletproof limo with the doors locked, gun in hand. The only thing keeping me from becoming terrorist target practice was a flimsy metal bench and 11-7. One of these things was immensely more valuable than the other. I wasn’t thinking clearly anymore, I instinctively grabbed 11-7’s arm, like a child. She instantly locked eyes with me, I saw confusion in those crimson orbs. 

I stared into her eyes for a few moments, trying to impress on her how fucked up I was right now, before I found my voice. “Please... don’t leave me.” Was all I could say. I sounded hoarse and quiet. It was probably a pathetic display.

Her eyes softened slightly and she nodded at me. She looked back at the trooper and said something to him in Advent. He pointed behind us to an alley. She looked back at me. “I’m evacuating you, there will be more troops here shortly. They do not require my assistance.”

I had never been more happy to hear something in my life. She pointed to the same alley the trooper pointed to earlier. “We are retreating down that alley. The rebels are only attacking from their position on the other side.” I nodded. “You’ll go first, and I will be behind you. You will run when I say to” I nodded again.

She looked through the slit on the bench for a long time before she yelled for me to move. I didn’t wait for her to say it twice. I sprinted down that alley as fast as I could, and I could hear 11-7 right behind me. There was a trash can tipped over in the middle of the alley that I hurdled over like a gold medal olympic runner. I turned right once I was out of the alley. I was on the sidewalk next to a road. The entire area had been blocked off by Advent, and there was no traffic or people to be seen. How long were we in combat for, I wonder?

I turned around to see 11-7 slither out of the alley tactfully. I could still feel the adrenaline pumping through my body, but I was not dead. I looked over myself and patted down my body. “Ha, ha! I am alive, and not a scratch on me! I could hug you, you magnificent serpent!”

A smile spread across her face as she leaned up against a wall. “I’m happy to hear you are ok.”

I noticed some yellow liquid dripping down her armor. I followed it up and saw a hole in the middle of a large indent on her shoulder. I pointed at it. “Oh no. No, you were hit.” 

She calmly looked at her shoulder. “I was. It must have happened while we ran into the alley.”

I started to panic again. “Fuck, what should we do! It looks like you’re losing a lot of blood.”

I heard the sound of metal scraping against metal as she drifted down and sat against the wall. She set down her rifle and grunted in pain as she started fiddling with her shoulder pad. “There’s - a medkit in my armor. By my waist.” Her shoulder pad hit the concrete sidewalk with a clank, and I kneeled down by her.

I started feeling around.. “Where is it? I don’t see anything.” 

“Push in on my back.” She turned sideways so I could see better.

I saw a few gold colored ridge shaped things. They were where, well the butt of a human would be relative to their torso, but this was a serious situation and I didn’t have time to worry about such things. I reached out and pushed on them frantically, one of them popped out and a small black object with a nozzle fell on the ground. 

I picked it up and showed it to her. “Is this it?”

She nodded and turned her body to face me. “It is, hold the nozzle in front of my wound and push the button on the back.”

I went over to her shoulder, there was yellow blood everywhere, and I couldn't see the wound, so I grabbed the bottom of my white shirt and tried to soak up some of the blood. She hissed as I did it, but I tried to ignore it. I was able to soak up enough blood so I could see the wound, and I followed her instructions. As I pushed on the button with my thumb some blue colored spray came out of the nozzle and instantly sealed the wound. It had created some blue colored scab thing over her wound. I heard 11-7 grunt while she was sprayed. 

Once it was done I backed off and looked at her face. She looked a little worse for wear, but seemed cognizant. “Are you ok? It sounded like that hurt.”

She tilted her head up to look at me and smiled. I saw mischievousness in her slitted pupils. “Aww, are you worried about me?”

That was an uncharacteristic thing for her to say. I gestured at her bullet wound. “Well, yeah. You got shot. I don’t want you to die, especially now. After you, uh got me out of there.” 

She giggled and got up after a few moments. I picked up her plasma rifle and handed it to her. “I’ll be alright, but the bullet will have to be removed by a physician.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. So, what do we do now?”

She looked over her shoulder at the alley we exited that battlefield from. “We should get further away from the terrorists. We are not safe yet.”

We moved away from the alley, neither of us said anything. Eventually we encountered an Advent blockade. They had made a makeshift barricade using two of their patrol cars, and there were some Advent troopers directing traffic. Two of the troopers walked up to us and started talking to 11-7. It was strange that they kept choosing to talk to her, over me, but I wasn’t complaining. I wasn’t in a chatty mood right now. After they spoke to each other for a few minutes, they stopped and 11-7 looked at me. 

She smiled, but her voice sounded uncertain. “They are going to - take you home, and I must go to a physician. Separate.”

I didn’t want to be alone, and I certainly didn’t want her to be alone either. “Can’t I go with you?” 

She shook her head. “You will be safer at home. I won’t be gone for a long time, 6 hours at the maximum.”

I still wasn’t just gonna let her leave. “I don’t care, I just want to make sure you are ok. How can you...”

She gingerly set her free hand on my shoulder, and snaked her head down to be eye level with me. “No need to worry, I will be alright. Go home.” She smiled again, but I sensed a hint of something else, maybe she didn’t want me to leave either.

I turned away from her gaze for a few moments and looked back at her. Her eyes were pleading with me. I figured it would be easier if I just went along with it. I relented and let out a sigh. “You’ll be back tonight?” 

She nodded. “Most likely.”

“Okay, - I’ll go.” I saw her eyes soften. She gave my shoulder a squeeze for a few moments and let go. She followed one of the troopers, and I was led away by the other trooper into a patrol car. 

-

The drive was short, but it felt long. I went inside, locked the front door, and plopped down on my couch.

I turned on the tv, but I didn’t really watch it. I kinda just stared at it. Before I even knew what happened 2 hours had passed. Is this what it was like in my house before she showed up? It’s only been like a week, but I can’t even remember what it was like without her. I mean it feels like she’s lived me my whole life. And now, my house is so empty. I looked down at my white shirt, there was a large yellow crusty stain on it, her blood. I hope she’s ok, I can’t believe I’m actually worried about her. It was weird, I was rarely concerned about anything other than myself. Even so, I shouldn’t worry, I mean she probably gets shot like this once a week, or something. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing though. I looked up to see what was playing on tv, it was the Starship Rangers movie. I saw a scene of my character, Captain Wilkins, leading a squad to clear these mutant bugs out of his ship. He didn’t look scared, even as some of his squad members got ripped apart by bugs, he kept going. 

My eyes drifted back to 11-7’s bloodstain on my shirt. Maybe if I wasn’t so useless I could have prevented this. I wouldn’t even have needed to pick up a gun. If I had just - put more effort into remembering the route home, this wouldn’t have happened. I looked back up at the tv. I saw how stoic Captain Wilkins looked in the face of danger; it reminded me of how 11-7 looked while fighting today. What did they have that I didn’t? - They’re probably just not massive pussies. I chuckled to myself. I should probably change out of this shirt. 

I took a shower and changed into some clean clothes, I scooched all five of her towels to the side on the drying bar to make room for mine. She still wasn’t home yet. I sat down on the couch and changed the channel. I already knew how Starship Rangers ended, and I did not want to see myself die tonight, even if it was in a movie. I waited as long as I could, well into the night, but she still wasn’t back yet. The whole time I felt like a nervous wreck. I couldn’t help but imagine some rebels breaking into my house, and every little sound I heard made me jump. It took a while, but eventually I gave up on waiting and decided to go to bed. As I crawled in I felt uncertain. What would the future bring? Will she inevitably end up dying for my sake? Fighting against some dumb terrorists who think it would be a good idea to kidnap a D-list celebrity. I don’t deserve that kind of loyalty. Here I am being all pessimistic again, it’s not like they were after - me - this time. I fell into a restless sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

I’m in the limo again, sitting down in the back. I look around and see that I’m sitting on the ceiling. There was a body of an advent trooper in the middle of the cabin laying in an increasing pool of orange blood. The floor had broken glass sprinkled around it. I felt the weight of something in my hands, so I looked down and saw I was holding a magnetic pistol. There were no sounds around me, just the rhythmic beating of my heart. The door to the limo was open, so I pointed my pistol at it. 

A young man poked his head in through the door. He looked to be in his early twenties. He wore this tattered grey armour that bore symbols I didn’t recognise. None of them were Advent. He gestured for me to come outside. I didn’t want to shoot him, but his sudden entrance, and the fact he wasn’t Advent caught me off guard, so I pulled the trigger. All three shots I fired hit him in the face, which sent a tidal wave of blood into the limo. Covering me and the inside of the limo in red liquid. 

The blood didn’t reach my face, but the rest of my body was covered, even the corpse of that Advent trooper was a new shade of red. I was horrified, and I felt the gun slowly slip out of my hands before hearing it clatter on the floor. I sat there for a long time, just staring at the headless body of that guy. I felt compelled to do what he was gesturing for me to do, so I started crawling towards the door. As I reached it I felt something grab my leg and throw me back to where I was sitting. 

I looked up and saw it was the advent trooper. He pointed at me and said. “Stay in the limo.” With that weird voice they all had. 

I wanted to see what was out there, I had to see what was out there, so I grabbed the magnetic pistol and shot him. A hole was punched in his chest. Orange blood sprayed out of his body, as he tipped over on his back. As I crawled out of the limo, I saw rebels surrounding the area. All of them wore the same grey armor balaclava outfit, and were wielding assault rifles. There was nothing that individualized them. They did not react to my presence. I heard what sounded like struggling, so I looked to my right and saw a viper coiled around a rebel without a mask. 

Both the rebel and the viper looked me in the eyes. I stood up and pointed the magnetic pistol I was holding at the viper and yelled. “Drop him!”

The viper snorted and looked annoyed. She bit down on the rebel’s neck. I watched him convulse and scream for several moments before he was still. She released his body, letting it fall to the ground. I watched her closely and hovered my finger over the trigger. She cautiously approached me. Slithering at a creeping pace, like a predator sneaking up on its prey. When she got within 5 feet of me I couldn’t take it anymore. “Don’t come any closer, or I’ll shoot!”

The viper halted and cocked her head. Her tongue was flicking out slower. “Why would you want to do that, Lucas?”

What, how did she know my name? I looked at her shoulder pad and saw 117-45-LH printed on it. What is she doing here? 11-7 started to slither towards me. I braced myself and kept pointing the gun at her. “Why are you here?”

An innocent looking smile crept across her face.“To protect you, silly.” She paused for a moment after speaking, and continued to slither towards me.

I kept pointing the gun at her. She didn’t look like she meant harm, but I remember what happened here. “Go away 11-7, I don’t want to have to hurt you!”

She halted at my outburst and looked confused. “Are you sure that is your wish, Lucas?”

I waved the pistol in a direction. “Yes, leave now!” 

She looked dejected, but turned to leave. “I will comply.” was all she said.

I saw her slither off. The rebels surrounding us parted for her, and moved back together once she passed through, swallowing her up in a sea of bodies. I looked around, the area was empty except for the limo, that corpse, and the rebels. I felt an uneasiness pervade through the air. One of the rebels left formation and walked up to me. I didn’t point my gun at him, I only watched his movements. 

He spoke with a gruff sounding voice, that made me guess he was in his 40’s. “ Lucas Hickey. You have been charged with conspiracy, knowingly aiding the enemies of humanity and lying to the public, high treason, fraud, and murder. You are sentenced to - death, may god have mercy on your soul, - Advent scum.” 

I pointed my gun at him and emptied the clip. The magnetically propelled bullets ripped through his torso, and knocked him to the ground. “It wasn’t supposed to end like this!” was all I was able to say before the rebels surrounding me began firing their rifles.

I screamed as the bullets hit my body and woke up sweating. I was in my bed, but no light streamed in through my window. I looked at my phone and saw the time 4:00 AM. I can’t take it anymore, this has to end. I have to do something about this. I grabbed my phone and messaged Manny. I told him I had been having horrible dreams about what I saw at the speech incident, and that it was affecting my sleep. I did not mention any details. I asked him for a recommendation on what I should do.

I set my phone down, expecting to get a response tomorrow, but as soon as I laid back down I heard a ding. I sat back up and looked at the message.

“Dear Mr. Hickey, I am sorry to hear this. I am not a therapist, but I would recommend heading to the nearest clinic as soon as possible.” Maybe he only sleeps for like 4 hrs too, like 11-7.

“I don’t want to be prescribed a bunch of pills. Is there anything else I could do?”

I waited for a few moments, and got his response. “There is a mind and body wellness center that is new and popular with the public, but it is difficult to get in short notice.”

“If you can get me in, do it. I wouldn’t be asking you if this wasn’t serious.”

He responded immediately. “I will see what I can do. Have a good evening Mr. Hickey.”

“I appreciate it.” I set my phone back on my nightstand. Maybe I’d finally get some respite from these dreams. I didn’t feel like going back to sleep and having more dreams, so I figured I’d go watch some TV.

I threw on some pants and a shirt, and went out into the hallway. 11-7’s bedroom door was closed, but I could hear the tv was on. Did I forget to shut it off last night? No I’m sure I... wait, - she was back. Thank god, I was really worried there for a while. I rushed into the living room, excited to see her again, and saw something I wasn’t prepared for. She was in the kitchen - deep-throating a large hunk of meat I couldn’t identify. It was grey and veiny on the outside, with a white tender looking center. It was huge, maybe like the length and thickness of my whole leg, and she was probably about halfway through eating it. While I was gawking at her, she seemed to be enjoying herself. Her eyes were half-lidded, and they slowly drifted over in the direction I was standing. Upon seeing me, her eyes went wide, and she froze. We locked eyes for a few agonizingly long moments, the only sound in the room coming from the tv. I didn’t really know what to say.

Seeing as her mouth was currently occupied, I decided to try and break the awkward silence. “Uh, having a midnight snack I see, heh.” She continued to stare at me. “I’ll just go sit on the couch.”

I sat down on the couch to watch tv, and let 11-7 finish swallowing whatever the hell that was. Some action movie was playing. It wasn’t one I had seen before. Hmmm, must be new. A few minutes later I saw 11-7 slither into view. I could see a clear bulge on her body well below her waist. No wonder she can eat so much, she has a long stomach. She kept her distance from me, and didn’t look me in the eyes.

I saw the tip of her tail curl up as she spoke. “I’m sorry you had to - witness that Lucas. I try to eat when you are asleep.”

She’s been eating with me all day, and at night she eats large chunks of meat? I’d hate to know how much it costs to feed just her, much less a whole platoon of vipers. “It’s fine, - I’m fine.” I sighed and tried to force a smile. “It’s not anything I haven’t seen you do before. It was just... bigger.”

She looked at me, and scanned my face. Probably trying to figure out if I was lying. Little did she know, I was too tired to lie, too tired to care. “This doesn’t bother you?”

“Well, I didn’t want to see that, but I’m not scared. I gotta be honest though, this wasn’t the kind of reunion I was picturing in my head.” I chuckled after saying that last line.

She relaxed. Her curled tail flattened out. “Thank you, Lucas.” She paused for a few moments taking some time to look me over before speaking again. “What are you doing up so early?”

How much does she know about my sleep schedule? Either way, I am not sharing my dreams with her. “Just woke up early, and didn’t feel like going back to sleep... How was the hospital?”

She gave me a curious look, but let me change the subject. “Unproductive, it was a busy night and they took a long time to treat me.” She pulled the sleeve up on her right shoulder to reveal a small circular patch of lightly colored orange skin. “The physician said the scales will grow back in time.” She pulled her sleeve back down.

“That’s good, to hear. I wouldn’t worry about the scar too much, they tend to look cool. Want to watch tv?”

She shook her head. “It is my time to sleep. I will awaken in 4 hours.” She turned to slither away.

I spoke loudly down the hallway. “Night then.” She flicked her tail in my direction as she closed her bedroom door. I guess it was a gesture of her acknowledgment.

Well, I get some alone time then I guess. I watched tv for some time, and eventually fell asleep. When I woke up sunlight beamed through the window directly into my eyes.

“Agh. Damn sun.” I rubbed my eyes and stood up.

11-7 was sitting in her usual spot on the other side of the couch watching tv. She glanced over at me as she spoke. “Sleep well Lucas?”

“Huh, yeah I did, actually. Why’d you pull my blinds up?”

She looked at me and frowned. “Are you afraid of the sun?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m just wondering.”

She gestured to the window. “Unlike you, I enjoy basking in sunlight.”

I looked over at her, and sure enough, she had positioned her body to soak in the sunlight that was coming through that window.

I smirked and mumbled to myself. “Heh, just like a snake. Maybe I should get her some substrate, and a big rock to lay on.”

11-7 squinted her eyes. “What did you say?”

“Oh, nothing...” I walked over to my room and grabbed my phone. I had a new message from my manager.

It read. “Mr. Hickey, I have secured you a spot at the Advent Relaxation Center today. Your appointment will be in the afternoon at 2pm. Make sure you are there. You will receive a full treatment, compliments of Advent. Do enjoy yourself, and inform me if it helps. If it doesn’t I can organize an appointment for you at the nearest clinic.”

Manny, you are a miracle worker. It was strange how much he’s been helping me out lately. Who knows, and who cares. I walked back into the living room with a big smile on my face, and plopped down on the couch.

11-7 looked over at me. “What are you so happy about?”

“I just got a ticket to the Advent Relaxation Center today.”

She cocked her head and her tongue flicks slowed. “What is that? Why are you going?”

“It’s a place that people go to to relax and unwind, and why not, could always use more relaxation.”

11-7 stretched out lazily and leaned back on the couch. “I do not disagree.”

“Yeah, Ron should be getting here around 1pm, or so. So, we’ve got some time.” I leaned back on the couch and watched tv for a bit. My stomach grumbled and reminded me that I haven’t eaten anything yet.

I looked over at 11-7. “You hungry?” The moment those words left my lips, she looked at me with focus. “You’re serious? I mean you did eat a big chunk of meat like 4 hours ago.”

She blinked. “It was 5 hrs and 43 minutes ago that I last ate, I am hungry.”

“Well, since I’m hungry too, I guess I could whip us up something.”

11-7 nodded her head. I went out into the kitchen and checked the freezer at the bottom of my fridge. “Ah perfect, still got some synth-sausage patties.” The whole thing was actually there, still unopened. I threw some bread in my toaster and started heating up a pan. I threw some butter in a pan and waited until it melted. Once I started cooking the sausage patties I heard some rustling over by the couch and felt a presence behind me.

I turned my head and saw 11-7 right behind me stretching her head out over my shoulder staring at the pan. Her tongue was flicking in and out faster than usual, but hanging in the air longer. “Jesus Christ! Do you even know what personal space is?.”

She ignored my comment. “What is that?” She pointed at the sausage.

I shook my head and chuckled. “What, you didn’t hear about this in one of the cooking shows you watched? It’s imitation pig flesh, or as the package calls it: Synth-Sausage Patties.”

She nodded. “They smell good.” She was entirely focused on the patties frying in the pan.

She really is still hungry after sucking down a chunk of meat larger than my leg 6 hrs ago. “I guess you can have the first one.” Not long after, we were back on the couch. I was enjoying my sandwich, but 11-7’s was long gone.

As I was eating a thought occurred to me. “So, you’ve eaten butter and cheese. I’m pretty sure snakes aren’t supposed to have dairy.” I took a bite of my sandwich.

11-7 looked over at me and snorted. The natural scowl that adorned her face deepened “You should not compare me to your terrestrial snakes. I am not a snake, or a - reptile.”

I smirked and gestured to her body. “Well...” I swallowed a bite of my sandwich. “You are very snake-like in appearance, and you swallow food like a snake.” I paused for a few moments to think of other things to say, she did not look amused as I continued. “You eat a lot of meat, and you are currently basking in the sunlight.”

11-7 crossed her arms and gestured to me. “I could compare you just as easily to your terrestrial apes. For one thing, you both stink. For another, you are both hairy.” She chuckled in a snake-like manner after saying that.

I pointed at her. “Hey, I bathe daily, and I’m not completely covered in hair.”

I saw the edges of 11-7’s lips curl upwards slightly. “And I do not only consume meat. Do your terrestrial snakes have arms?”

I gave up. “Okay, fine. I guess you got me. I was just trying to make sure you weren't gonna get sick, or something.”

She looked indignant, and gestured at me. “I won’t get sick. I am not a child, who just eats whatever is put in front of me. I am aware of what I can and cannot eat.”

“I see, well that’s good to know... So, you’re an adult?”

11-7 squinted her eyes and crossed her arms. “I am. Did you expect Advent to assign a child to guard you?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s not like I’ve studied your biology. - I don’t really know anything about you.”

Her expression changed from being annoyed to being interested. She looked me up and down before smiling. “It seems that I am at an advantage.” She gestured to my body as she spoke. “I was taught some of your basic anatomy, - but it was purely for combat purposes. Mainly, where to shoot, bite, or constrict. I told you before I learned some of your history and language. But, before I lived here the longest time I’ve interacted with a human was a period of a few minutes, and she aggravated me. I’ve learned much since my arrival.”

I’m surprised she cares about humans at all. Can’t say I ever gave vipers more than a passing glance before that terrorist attack on my speaking event. “I remember you saying something about that the other day. So, what does that make me then, a science experiment? - Is Advent involved?”

She started giggling. “No, it is for my interest only. I am not the only one who is learning, you are as well, whether you are trying or not.” She paused for a few moments and looked away in thought. Then she looked back at me. “You can ask me any questions you want, unlike you I am not afraid of certain questions.”

Was she really offering to answer any question I had? I could learn anything I wanted to about her. I looked at her face, it didn’t seem like she had any ulterior motives, it seemed like she wanted to teach me something. But what to ask, she kind of put me on the spot here. Maybe I’ll just ask something simple to break the ice. Something that she couldn’t possibly make weird. “Anything I want, huh... How do your venom glands work?” Perfect, simple anatomy question, and they’re probably in her head anyway.

She looked confused and her tongue flicks slowed. “My - glands? - I thought you were scared before?”

What did she mean by that? I guess she’s still hung up about when she bit me. “Hey, I’m over it. It’s not like I need to be scared by that anymore.”

She smiled. “You surprise me, I’ll tell you.” She moved closer towards me. “You remember from the physician, how much venom my kind can inject.”

I nodded. “It was like - enough to fill a small glass, right?”

She nodded. “Affirmative. I can bite more than once, and inject more venom.” She tapped above her nostrils with a clawed finger. These glands are too small for that, I have another set of glands that store even more venom.” I started to get the feeling I made a mistake when she looked down at her chest. It became more apparent when she grabbed her boobs and jostled them a few times with her hands. I felt my face start to warm up. “What did you call my glands yesterday... tei - tsss? I understand human females have something similar, but I think they are not for storing venom... What purpose do they serve on humans?” She looked up at me, while still lifting up her boobs.

I wasn’t sure how to react, how do you react in a situation like this? She clearly didn’t know why they had an affect on me, but she knew that they did. Is she intentionally trying to fuck with me? This is apparently gonna keep coming up, I should say *something* to sate her curiosity. I looked away from her. “Uhhh, they are for - nursing babies.”

As I looked back at her, she let go of her boobs and cocked her head. “Nursing? - What is that?”

I wish I didn’t have to go in more detail. I cleared my throat. “They produce milk, - and babies drink it until they are old enough to eat regular food.”

She leaned her head back slightly and scrunched up her face. “Humans produce milk, - and your young drink it? Like the animals do?” She paused for a few moments. She squinted her eyes and pointed at my chest. “Do - you produce milk?”

That caught my attention. I shook my head and gestured with my hands. “No, I do not produce milk! Only women do that.”

She stopped scrunching up her face. “Intriguing. It is good to know I do not have to worry about you releasing any milk.”

“You know what, I think you’re messing with me.”

She crossed her arms, and turned her head away from me. “I am doing no such thing. What are you meaning?”

I smirked, and pointed at her “venom glands”. “I don’t believe that your tits are venom glands. That doesn’t make any sense.”

She smirked right back at me and leaned her head forward, arms still crossed. “You said you didn’t know anything about me, now you act like you do.”

Now she’s getting me riled up. “Look, this is just too weird for me, - and - you’re acting weird.” I gestured to her as I spoke. “If your venom glands were actually in your chest that would be absurd.”

She furrowed her brow. “It is as - absurd as producing milk from your chest. How would you possibly remove the milk? Humans don’t have fangs.”

This is too much. “ - Let's not get off topic here.”

She stopped talking and looked away in thought for a few moments. Then she looked back at me and a wide grin spread across her face. “You don’t believe me, - there is an easy solution. I could give a demonstration.”

I walked right into this one didn’t I, but I’m not about to back down. “Ok fine, but you are keeping your shirt on.”

She giggled. “I never said I was going to remove it.” Before I could respond she slithered off to her room.

A few moments later she came back with a bucket and a sheet of some kind of plastic material. She set them both down on the coffee table and stretched the plastic material over the bucket. The plastic looked like it had a rubbery texture to it.

She wrapped the tip of her tail around the bucket and held it in front of her face using her tail. Her eyes focused on me as she leaned forward and opened her mouth. I watched as her intimidating fangs unfolded from the roof of her mouth, and she bit into the sheet over the bucket. It made a strange sound as she bit into it, it sounded like someone rubbing a balloon. Which sounded familiar... “Naaw whach heee.” I chuckled a little as she spoke with a bucket in her mouth, but she ignored me. She turned sideways and I watched as she grabbed both of her “venom glands'' with her hands and squeezed. I heard what sounded like liquid shooting into the plastic bucket.

I figured it would be just like a quick squeeze and done, but she kept squeezing them. Her hands were large, much bigger than my own. Each hand perfectly cupped each gland. Her glands looked soft and pliable, with some weight to them. They honestly seemed like regular boobs. I could even see some of them poking out in between each of her fingers as she gripped them... After a few moments I realized I was staring a little too closely at her breasts. I quickly looked up at her face instead. She was staring at me. She didn’t see that, right? Whatever the case she stopped squeezing after some time, and removed the bucket from her mouth.

She practically shoved the bucket in my hands using her tail. “Look.”

I looked in the bucket and sure enough, there was some lime green venom sloshing around in there. I looked back up at her. “Ok, so there is venom in here, - but how do I know it came from your - other glands?”

“I knew you would say that.” She put her hands on her - hips, and thrusted her chest out. “Do you notice anything different?”

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be looking for, but I got the hint. I examined her glands, and they looked - smaller? “Did they get smaller?”

She nodded, and smiled slightly. “Yes, this is your proof.”

I couldn’t believe it, who the hell comes up with this stuff. I mean, venom glands inside her chest that happened to be shaped like breasts? This sounded like an excuse to slap tits on something that probably shouldn’t have them. But here they were, right in front of me, functioning just like she said they did. “I guess you’re right. It’s not where I would have put them, but that’s what they are.” I set the bucket down on the coffee table.

She slithered back onto the couch and laid down. “And where would you have them? Would you prefer it if they were on my back?” She laughed.

I chuckled a little in response. “No, I just meant it’s a - convenient spot for them, is all.”

“Well I won’t argue about where my venom glands should be.” She looked at my clock on the wall and back at me. “We have more than enough time until - Ron arrives, ask me another question.”

At this rate I’d end up asking something that would take a weird turn again. I shook my head. “Yeah, uhh. Nah, I’m good. - I think I’ll just watch some TV until we leave.”

She was laying on her back now, looking up at me. “You sound frightened of asking me more questions. Are you certain you are an adult?”

I chuckled. “Yes, why, you want to go out drinking or something?”

She put a finger up to her chin. “That would not be a good idea, remember what happened the last time?”

I waved a hand dismissively at her. “Pshhh, I’m immune now. You could bite me all you want, and I wouldn’t even have to go to the hospital.” I said as smugly as I could.

She rolled over onto her belly and got an intense look on her face. “Is that an invitation?”

This banter is getting too real. “Uhhh... no?”

She winked at me. “Let me know if you change your mind.” She laughed after saying that.

I smiled sheepishly and turned up the volume on the tv. We watched it until it was time for me to go.

-

After some time passed, I was outside chatting with Ron, while 11-7 took her sweet time getting ready. He was smoking a cigarette and sitting on the hood of the standard black Advent sedan he always picked me up in. I was leaning up against the metal garage door of my house.

Ron took his cigarette out of his mouth. “... that’s the thing with women, always taking as much time as they can. Ain’t surprised one bit that the snake’s doin the same thing.”

“Well, she does have to put on body armor, so she might have an excuse.”

He chuckled. “Never said she didn’t have an excuse. - So, what's this business with that terrorist attack the other day?”

I looked at the ground and shook my head. “Man, I don’t even know what to say, bad luck.” I looked back up at him. “I’ve been in two of them in the same month. This is probably the worst luck I’ve had in a long time.”

“I’ll say, you sure seem to be good at findin trouble lately.” He cackled and coughed as he said that. He cleared his throat and spit on my driveway. He got a serious look on his face. “Shits gettin worse out there, reminds me of what things were like after the invasion, -chao-tic.”

That caught my interest, Ron almost never talks about what his life was like before being my driver. “Oh yeah, what were things like back then?”

He raised an eyebrow at my question, but his look of confusion dissipated quickly. “Oh yeah, you weren’t ‘ere in the city back then. I always am forgettin that you haven’t been here so long.” He took a long drag of his cigarette, and blew the smoke out slowly. Seemingly savoring the chemical comforts it provided. “I’ve told ya I was in the army before Advent arrived, right?”

I nodded. “Yes, you’ve told me a little, but not much.”

“Ah, well ya see I wasn’t discharged or nothin, and I didn’t stick around til’ the bitter end. Me and my squad deserted once the war stopped bein winnable. Hell, I think even callin it a war at all is givin us too much credit...”

“Were you in combat? What was that like, if you don’t mind me asking?”

He chuckled. “Oh, I’m not nearly drunk enough for war stories, maybe another time.” He took a quick puff from his cigarette. “Anyway, so I come back ‘ere to see my family. Luckily when I bought my house it had this cold war era bunker in the backyard.” He paused for a few moments and shot me a look. “Did you learn about the Cold War in school, before the invasion?”

I nodded. “I did. United States vs. the Soviet Union, proxy wars in forign nations, fear of nuclear destruction, and all that.”

He smiled. “Good, ‘least they taught you somethin important before the schools closed. Now, I never thought I’d be thankful for keeping that bunker stocked with food, but I always did, just in case. Well this was a just in case event if I’ve ever seen one.”

“So you lived in a bunker, - how long?

He scratched his chin. “Bout’ two years. Had enough supplies to last a few more, but Advent cracked open my bunker early. Instead of killing us, they offered me a job. They looked me up in the old government records they had, and found out I was a soldier. Wanted me to become one of their lackies; offered me all the gene mods I wanted and a great salary. But, Ol’ Ron knew better.” He smiled and tapped on the top of his head with a finger. “I turned them down and asked for something else, and that’s how I became a driver.”

Adjusted my leaning position and chuckled. “Well that’s one hell of a story.”

Ron took another puff of his cigarette before responding. “It is, and trust me I left a lotta details out of it, but this city wasn’t better after Advent took over, and honestly - it wasn’t their fault. Sentiment towards Advent right after the war was anger for most people. An’ you had all of these young people, and veterans from the war, just eager for a fight to free mankind and all’a that. Why, I think we had some terrorist attack happen every other week. This city was a madhouse.”

I nodded. “Sounds about right, we’ve had two terrorist attacks in two weeks. So, how did Advent quiet things down?”

He snorted and looked at the ground. “The same way they always do: churn out a buncha peacekeepers an’ kill em all.”

This was starting to get a bit gruesome. I shook my head. “I’m not sure if that’ll be enough this time, I’ve seen so many of those troopers get slaughtered, like - well animals.”

Ron nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I’m not sure what’s changed in the last month, but they seem more organized than I’ve ever seen.” He paused for a moment and took the cigarette out of his mouth. “You wanna know what I think?”

“Go ahead and shoot Ron, noone is here except for you and me.”

He looked side to side before continuing. “You remember that news report about that gene clinic attack earlier this month?”

“Course I do. Advent said they stole something important, but wouldn’t say what.”

He nodded. “Yeah, now don’t go a’callin me crazy. But, what if... it wasn’t a what, - but a who?”

I chuckled. “What, you think they kidnapped a scientist or something?”

He frowned slightly. “No, not that. I think they kidnapped a general. I dunno how, or why they would have convinced one to help them. Maybe it was a turncoat, but that’s my honest opinion.”

“Listen, I’m not one to turn down a conspiracy theory immediately. But, what’d Advent do: keep some like super great general frozen in a tube at a poorly guarded gene clinic? I don’t think they are that stupid.”

“I think yer right about that. - Well, maybe a general was gettin gene work done, and they made a deal with him and planned to extract him from there. I dunno, but the organization I’ve seen from the terrorists lately means they got new tactics and likely new leadership.”

“I’d believe it, that sounds more realistic.”

We stopped talking for a bit, long enough for Ron to finish his cigarette. 11-7 was still not out yet.

Ron was somehow simultaneously the first and the last guy I should ask this question to, but it’s not like I have a whole lot of options. I looked over my shoulder and didn’t see any alien cobras exiting my house, so now was my chance. “You know, 11-7 has been acting kinda weird lately.”

He chuckled. “She’s a snake from some planet far off in outer space Luke, weird is as weird does.”

I crossed my arms. “I know that, I mean she’s acting weirder than she usually does.”

He raised an eyebrow. “That’s not a whole lot to go off of...”

I am not telling him what happened exactly because I know what he’ll say. “The specifics aren’t important, she’s just been acting weirder is all.”

That response piqued his interest immediately, and he smiled. “Weirder than usual, huh. Do ya want my honest opinion?”

I smirked. “I asked you an honest question, didn’t I?”

“Well, judging by how many details yer omi-... omi-ttin. In my experience, and trust me I got plenty. When a lady acts weird around you, chances are it means she likes ya.”

This was a mistake. “I don’t know if I’d say that...”

Ron cleared his throat. “Slow down there cowboy, let me ask you this: is she nice to ya?”

“Yes, but that’s her job.”

He smiled. “Advent Burger workers get paid to be nice, bodyguards don’t. I know you were blackout drunk, but that night after the nightclub, she was freakin out over ya the whole ride home. I explained the situation, which calmed her down a little, but she was still mad at me because I didn’t tell her nothin about the nightclub, or what you might do there beforehand. And she was bein all feisty with me when I offered to help bring you inside. She is most definitely - sweet - on - you.”

“Sorry about that, she can be - overprotective. I’m sure it was because she just didn’t know you very well. - But, that doesn't mean anything, - we’re - uh - friends, she was just worried about me and probably her job.”

“Aha, so you are friends then.” He looked away for a few moments, then looked back at me. “Thought you didn’t like them aliens? Least, that’s what ya told me.”

“Normally I wouldn’t, - and I still don’t like aliens. She’s just - different, an exception.”

He adjusted his thick glasses and regarded me with an interested expression. “Ah. Different, how?”

I’m gonna have to tread lightly here. I trust Ron, but I don’t want to get her in trouble for misconduct or anything. “I don’t know how to describe it, she’s just not what I expected at all. Nothing like the troopers I had guarding me before. She actually has - a personality.”

“Well, ya do seem to keep weird company, me included.” He cackled after saying that, then he wiped the smirk off his face. “But, be careful how close ya get ta Advent personnel. You know she’d sell you out sooner than you can regret it.”

I thought for a few moments on what to say. “Aw come on, you know how long I’ve been in this game. I’m not stupid, I’m not gonna do anything illegal in front of her.”

He nodded. “An’ lord knows, maybe she is differnt, but I’m warnin ya boy, don’t get too comfy round her.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, old man.”

We made small talk until 11-7 showed up. Turns out she was having trouble getting her body armor on, and when Ron climbed into the car she whispered to me that it was because of her demonstration with her glands earlier. Soon after we were in the car and headed to the Advent Relaxation Center. We were making small talk on the way there, so I decided to ask Ron about the facility.

“So what’s this place like?”

Ron turned right and weaved in between two cars. “You mean the A-R-C? Great place from what I hear. If that manager of yers got the full treatment yer in for a treat. That place is like a super spa.”

“Nice, sounds like I’ll be doing something worthy of the title vacation.”

Traffic was terrible, but with Ron’s immense knowledge of the city's road system I made it to the ARC early. The area was fenced off, and we had to go through a guarded metal gate. But when we got to the building it was like nothing I had seen before. There was plenty of foliage out front and a sizable fountain. The entrance was rounded, there were large windows that gave you a good view of the reception area. The building itself was like two stories high and it was built with this beautiful reddish stone, that wasn’t bricks. Above the automatic glass sliding doors there was black lettering that read “Advent Relaxation Center”, the first letter of every word on the sign was that advent font and slightly larger than the other letters.

“Damn, that’s a purdy building. Didn’t know Advent cared to build things like that.” Ron commented.

11-7 looked over at him and responded. “Advent constructs buildings like this when it being aesthetically pleasing is essential to its function.”

“Well I am not waiting around here. See you later Ron.”

He nodded at me. “I’ll be back when yer done, let me know if you get out before 7.”

“Aye, aye, captain.” I chuckled after saying that. I exited the car and waited for 11-7 to follow me. Ron drove away and exited the facility quickly once we started walking up to the door.

I was feeling quite jaunty as we walked up to the door, and apparently I was wearing it on my face because 11-7 made a comment. “You look happy.” I looked up at her but I didn’t know what to say. She broke the silence after a few moments. “You should enjoy this, let me worry about the rebels today.” Then she smiled warmly at me.

“Thanks, I think this place will be just what I need.”

We walked through the front doors and up to the grey receptionist’s desk. The inside was more impressive than the outside. There were plants everywhere and multiple water fountains. There was a small waterfall made with grey stone directly behind the desk. With “Advent Relaxation Center” written above it, just like the sign outside.

There was a woman typing on a computer at the reception desk, so I walked right up to her. She was wearing a black side button up shirt that had ARC printed on it in white text. She looked up at me as soon as I approached the desk, and spoke in that standard friendly customer service tone. “Hello sir, do you have an appointment with us?”

11-7 slithered up beside me and the woman looked slightly unnerved at her appearance, but she didn’t say anything. “Yes, I have an appointment at 2, my name is Lucas Hickey.”

She typed on her computer for like half a minute before responding. “Ok Mr. Hickey, I’m seeing you signed up for the Deluxe Premium Diamond Exclusive Platinum VIP package today, is that correct?”

That’s a long ass name, but whatever I’m getting must be good if it’s got all these expensive sounding adjectives attached to it. Manny set me up good. “Yes.”

She typed some more on the computer. “And I’m seeing you paid in advance. Ok, please take a seat in the waiting room and someone will be with you shortly, enjoy your time at the ARC.”

We went into the waiting room, there were a few other people in the waiting room, who glanced at 11-7 occasionally, but it was quiet. There was a news report playing on a tv on the wall about the terrorist attack yesterday. The reporter was on scene and talking about how the terrorists were successfully repelled, but they may have stolen important data relating to Advent’s operating records. This wasn’t exactly something I wanted to hear about while I was supposed to be relaxing. 11-7 caught wind of my sentiments and offered to change the channel. I let her.

Not soon after a woman wearing the same black button up shirt as the receptionist called out my name from a door. I stood up and walked over to her. “That’d be me.”

She smiled. “Ok, if you’ll follow me I’ll take you to the...” She paused for a moment after seeing 11-7 slither up. “Is this - viper with you, sir?”

I nodded. “Yes, this is my bodyguard and she must be with me at all times.”

The woman looked like she was about to object, but then decided against it. She let out a short sigh and spoke. “Very well, If you’ll both follow me I’ll take you to your private hotspring.”

We followed her down a hallway lined with doors. The decor had a homely appearance. They utilized a lot of wood, and it was a breath of fresh air to see lighting that wasn’t fluorescent white. The spa worker turned left and waved the bracelet she was wearing in front of one of the doors and held it open for me. I walked in, and found myself in a small circular room that was dimly lit. The only light came from a large steamy pool in the center of the room.

11-7 followed me inside and so did the spa worker. She grabbed a remote and pushed a button. Suddenly the entire room lit up and I found myself on a mountain range. I looked around and even the floor looked like it had a grey rocky texture to it. I was in awe at what I was seeing. The only thing that broke the illusion was the regular looking door that was seemingly suspended in midair.

I heard the spa worker chuckle behind me, so I turned around to look at her. “It’s beautiful isn’t it? Almost as good as the real thing.” I nodded. She smiled and handed me the remote. “This one is called scenic mountain retreat, there are a few other scenes to try out.”

I pushed a directional button on the remote and suddenly we were in a desert environment with a few palm trees and limited foliage in the immediate area. This was one of the coolest things I’d seen in a long time.

“I can see you're eager to get started, so I’ll make this short. The remote is completely waterproof, so do not be concerned if you get it wet. Do not touch the screens in the room, you could be liable for damages to them. You have an hour in here before you move onto the next part of your package. Make sure to change into that robe on the floor before I come to get you, the simulation will shut off a few minutes before that happens.”

“Is there like a bathing suit for me to put on or something?”

“Oh, I thought you’d preferred to bathe nude? - Don’t worry sir these rooms are cleaned after every client, soundproof, and completely private, so you don’t have to worry about anyone seeing you. I can bring you a bathing suit if you’d prefer, but you won’t get the full benefit of the healing mineral spring water if you’re clothed.”

“I guess it’s not a big deal...”

The woman explained to me how to use the remote and what I could do with it before leaving. As she left and the door faded away I realized that I forgot that 11-7 was in the room with me. She didn’t look too impressed with the simulated desert around us, she was just casually looking around.

“Hey, uh could you turn around while I get in the spa?”

She looked at me and cocked her head. “Why?”

“Because I need to - uh, strip down to climb in.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, and you’re afraid of me seeing you without clothing on. What exactly are you hiding from my sight?”

I swear she has like no social-awareness whatsoever, and it is starting to annoy me. “My cock and balls, alright!” Her eyes widened slightly and she reared her head back at my outburst. “I don’t have - like - contraband in my underwear or anything, if that’s what you're thinking. Just the fucking genitals I was born with. So could you - please turn around.”

She kept looking at me but didn’t say anything for a few moments. “I apologise, I do not understand your cultural taboos. I did not intend offence by prying” She lowered her head and her hood contracted slightly as she spoke.

She knows so little it’s almost comedic. I took a deep breath and sighed. “No it's fine, I overreacted. This is just - awkward for me. Most people don’t like to be seen naked, well at least the ones that are not whores.”

She nodded slowly. “I - understand.” She turned around, and I quickly got undressed and climbed into the spa. The water felt amazing, and was just the right temperature. I grabbed the remote and turned on the jets, which made the water foamy and difficult to see through.

“You can turn around now.” She turned around, but did not say anything. She coiled up her body and laid back on it like a bean bag chair. I flicked through some of the scenes, there was a rainforest one, some sort of a orental setting, then there was one that looked like an alien forest, and there were stars above me, I decided to stay on that one. I sunk down into the warm water and leaned back. I tried to relax, but after 10 minutes I realized I still felt bad about snapping at 11-7 earlier.

I moved around the edge of the hot spring until I was facing her, she was laying deep in her coils . So much so, that I couldn’t see her. “Isn’t this cool?” I gestured to the area around the spa.

She poked her head above her body and looked at me. She scrunched up her face and shook her head. “I have seen simulations like this before, but it was less calm.”

“Oh, that’s cool... You know the water is nice and warm.”

She cocked her head slightly. “I am aware of this, you do not have to tell me.”

I chuckled. “I was trying to say you could come over and dip your tail in it or something, I’m sure you would like it.”

She squinted her eyes and appeared to mull over my offer. She set her gun down, and silently glided across the ground towards the spa. It was interesting to watch how she moved. Her whole body was in motion at the same time, it was like watching someone untangle a piece of rope in one smooth motion. She tentatively poked the tip of her tail in the water a few times, before she slid the rest of her tail in.

A soft hiss escaped her lips as she slid part of her body in, and she looked slightly embarrassed by the sound she made. She laid by the edge of the jacuzzi and rested her head on her arms. “You are correct, I do enjoy this.”

“Yeah, it's real nice and supposedly the minerals are good for your skin. Probably good for scales too.”

She made a noise that sounded like “Mmhmmm.” and didn't say anything else. She started to move her tail around in the water which had a stirring effect on it.

We both awkwardly looked around the room occasionally making eye contact, for a few minutes. I decided to break the silence. “Hey, I’m not mad about earlier or anything, it really wasn’t a big deal.”

She looked over at me and blinked twice. “Yes, thank you...” Her voice trailed off, and it was a minute before she started talking again. “I understand why you would want to cover up your - reproductive organs. I had previously inferred that is where they were located based on your behavior and my training, but I was not certain of it until now.”

“Previous training?”

“Yes, we are told that area on male humans is a weak point, and that if we are injured or unable to overpower a male human, we should strike there. But, we were never told why. - I understand now.”

“I see, well don’t strike me there, or I may need to think about replacing you.” I chuckled after saying that.

She snorted. “Why would I ever strike you? My main duty is to protect you from harm. That would be a foolish way of failing.” She leaned sideways on her elbow, and started inspecting her claws. “Not to mention, it would be completely unnecessary. I could easily overpower you if there was in a situation in which I needed to.” As she said that she glanced my way and smirked. Her tail was still swaying in the water.

I lifted one of my hands out of the water and gestured at her. “You sound so confident. What if I ran up a flight of stairs,” I raised my eyebrows, “- and there wasn’t an elevator?”

She frowned and stopped inspecting her claws. She slammed her hand down on the ground and leaned over the spa. “You sound confident you would be successful in reaching the stairs.”

“Hey you never know, I’m pretty quick on my feet. Especi...” I stopped talking because I felt something bump into my ankle and wrap around it. It didn’t freak me out, I just looked at the water and back to 11-7. Her tail had stopped moving, and she was smiling.

She didn’t say anything for a few seconds, so I decided to speak. “Hey, it’s...” She tugged on my leg a little and it cut me off.

“Could you go climb the stairs now?” She laughed and I felt her release my ankle. “You talk too much, you should be relaxing.”

“I...” I looked away from her and wiped some water off of my face. “You’re - probably right, but just so we’re on the same page. If I reached the stairs I’d be home free.” As I leaned back against the wall of the spa and closed my eyes.

I heard her giggle and whisper something under her breath. Couldn’t quite make it out though.

Some time later the sim shut off and 11-7 woke me up. She turned around while I put on my bathrobe and I was led to the next parts of my package. Next up was a manicure and a pedicure. Apparently Manny was not aware that this part of the package is usually reserved for women, but I went with it anyway because I hadn’t cut my nails in a while. I made a joke that 11-7 was the one that should be getting her nails trimmed. Next they put some crud on my face and had me sitting in a mud bath for a while. I got cleaned up and moved on to a sauna, which was nice, but it was too small for 11-7, so she had to wait outside of it. Then after I was cooled down I got an amazing massage from some woman. 11-7 was giving her the stank eye the whole time.

After that I was on to the last part of my package. I was led into a room with a strange looking bed in it. It was grey and looked like a comfy dentist chair. Well, a comfy looking dentist chair with a big open helmet looking thing where my head should be. The inside of the helmet had hundreds of small circular disks in it, it almost looked like it was covered in scales. The woman who led me in there directed me to sit on the chair. I sat down on it, making sure to keep my head away from that thing as much as possible. 11-7 slithered over to my side and watched the spa worker closely.

She was wearing that back side button up shirt that they all wore, and she was typing away at a computer that was attached to the chair I was sitting on. “So what exactly is this thing?”

She smiled and gestured to the chair. “That is the mind revitalizer. We can’t label ourselves a mind and body wellness center without having something to help your mind.”

I looked back at the weird helmet dome thing attached to the chair. “What does it do?”

“It helps you deal with mental trauma, I can give you the full explanation once I finish the startup sequence.”

Mental trauma? Could this thing actually help me? I don’t like the idea of Advent messing with my brain, but I can’t stand these dreams anymore. I’d do anything just to stop having them. “Interesting.”

The woman typed on her computer some more, and eventually she stopped. She started talking in a way that implied she had said these same exact words a hundred times before. “So, what’s gonna happen is once you lay down and put your head in the dome. This machine will read your mind, and it is programmed to sense things that are troubling you. It will read out a report to me...”

She looked annoyed as I interrupted her. “I don’t know if I want my thoughts on display.”

“Do not worry sir. The read out I see and will share is not specific. It only gives a general idea of what the problem is, which only the patient can understand.”

“Ok, that’s fine.”

She sighed and continued. “After I share the readout. You will close your eyes and try to sleep. The machine will help you fall asleep, and smooth out your anxieties that were listed on the readout, while giving you a pleasant dream.”

“A dream, what kind of a dream?”

“It is a pleasant dream that takes you to a place you’ll enjoy. I can’t say exactly where because it’s different for everyone.”

“Oh, will it just be me there?”

“That depends on what you want. The machine will craft you a fun outing that you’ll enjoy, and it’ll feel just like you’re there in person.”

A machine that can affect how you view things and can simulate reality through a dream, - sounds like a mind control device in the making. “Wow, that sounds amazing. How does a fantastical machine like this work?”

“Unfortunately I do not know. I only operate this machine, I did not design it. Now if you would please lay back on the chair, we could get started.”

I looked over at 11-7, she was watching the technician closely, but she glanced over at me and nodded once she noticed I was looking at her. I guess it’s either this, or more bad dreams, and the chair did look pretty comfy.

I laid back in the chair and the technician pushed a button on her computer. I heard a whirring sound as it started up. After a few moments I started to feel a light buzzing sensation around and inside my head. It was not unpleasant, and it felt kinda nice. The technician looked at her computer and started scrolling around.

After a few minutes she spoke. “Hmmm, seems you’re a very conflicted person Mr. Hickey. You are conflicted about many things.”

“I see, well...”

“You don’t have to tell me anything, the machine does all the work. This readout is just to let you know what will be fixed.” She continued. “You feel guilty for something you did a long time ago, actually you are feeling guilt for a lot of things.” She’s starting to sound like a damn fortune teller, but she isn't wrong. “Hmmm, you have feelings for someone. I’m not supposed to know this, but from the data I can tell it’s someone you are close to, but you are conflicted about that too. Well, looks like we have a lot to go through, but do not worry that’s exactly what this machine is for. Now if you could please close your eyes and try to sleep.”

“I’m - uh, not actually that tired.”

“Don’t worry, the machine helps with that.”

“Oo-kay?” I tried to get comfortable and closed my eyes. I layed there in darkness for a few minutes. Nothing changed. This is dumb, I can’t belive I thought this would change anything...

-

I was laying on what felt like warm asphalt. I opened my eyes, and was almost blinded by the sun. I squinted and lifted my hand up to my face to block it out. As I sat up off the ground, a few pebbles that were stuck to me fell off and made a sound as they hit the ground. I looked around and saw I was laying in an empty parking lot, there were hundreds of parking spots, marked with fading white paint. All of these spots were empty, besides the one I was laying in. I felt a gentle breeze brush against my face and rustle my hair. Where the fuck am I? I looked forward and saw an amusement park in front of me. There were like 12 ticket booths and a big sign above them that read “Fun Adventure Park”. I recognized the name, but I couldn’t quite think why. I thought about it for a minute or two, and remembered. I think it was the theme park my family and I used to go to. It was when I was young, so it had to have been before the invasion. And here it was in front of me - in pristine condition, and completely empty.

I looked down at my hands, I had all ten of my fingers. I pinched myself. I felt the pain, but didn’t wake up. Huh. I looked around, past the parking lot. There wasn’t anything else around me besides open grass fields and an empty highway. I stood up and brushed some of the rocks and sand off of my pants. I cautiously walked up to one of the ticket booths. It was a standard looking ticket booth, it had a glass pane in front of it with a hole cut in the middle and the bottom for speaking and for getting tickets. I was surprised to see there was a person inside of the booth. The guy in the booth looked young and disinterested. He was wearing a red and white striped shirt with suspenders.

He turned his head to face me. “Ticket please, sir.”

“I, uh - don’t have any tickets.”

The guy sighed. “Well, what would you like? The all day unlimited passes are on sale.” He lazily pointed at a sign on the wall behind him.

I read through some of the pass options, but the currency symbol next to the numbers was one I didn’t recognize. I made my selection and reached into my pocket to pull out my wallet, but couldn’t find it. Oh shit, did I leave it in the parking lot? I reached into my other pocket and felt a piece of paper. I pulled it out and it had “Fun Adventure Park, Unlimited All-Day pass” written on it. Ok, so I could get in now, but what about my wallet? - Wait a second, my wallet? Physical money went out of style years ago, I don’t have a wallet. I looked at my wrist and my phone wasn’t there. What the hell is going on?

“What would you like, sir?”

“Oh, uh. Heh, I guess I did have a ticket.” The man sighed as I handed it to him.

He looked at it for a moment and spoke again. “Sir, - you handed me two tickets.”

“What?” The man held up the ticket I handed him and pushed on it to reveal another ticket behind it. “Huh - that’s weird, why would I have two tickets?”

I felt someone touch my shoulder. “That is because the other ticket is for me, silly.” That voice was familiar, feminine sounding and hung half a second too long on the S’s.

I turned my head to where I heard the voice and saw 11-7 slide into view. “11-7? What are you doing here?”

She moved past me and stuck her arm towards the booth. The guy working there reached forward and put a paper band on her arm. While he did that, she turned her head almost 180 degrees to look at me. “Don’t you remember? You said you wanted to take me here.”

I scratched my chin and looked at the ground for a moment. “I don’t remember, but where’s your armor and stuff?” She was wearing a black low cut top, that was nice looking, but also distracting for obvious reasons. Specifically, two decently sized ones.

She reached forward and gently grabbed my wrist. I was pulled forward towards the ticket booth. As the guy put a similar band on my arm she replied. “There are patrols all around this place, so it is not necessary.” She let go of my arm as she responded.

I watched her maneuver through the metal turnstile. She didn’t have any difficulty getting through. She slithered into the park a little before turning around to face me. She waved at me and smiled. “Are you going to enter, Lucas?

Something was strange about this place, but I couldn’t quite place my finger on it - yet. I didn’t feel in danger, but something was definitely off... Well, I’m not going to say no to a free theme park pass. I pushed through the same turnstile 11-7 did and walked towards her. “I guess I am. What did you want to ride first?”

She scanned the area and pointed in a direction. I looked where she pointed, but before I could process what it was, I felt her grab my hand and drag me off towards it. I focused on keeping my footing as we headed towards whatever she was interested in. After a few seconds she stopped abruptly and I looked up. I saw a sign that said “Evicerator” in purple text.

I ripped my arm from her grasp. She turned her head to look at me. Her eyes had widened. “Why are you dragging me everywhere?”

She smirked. “It is because you are being too slow. If we went at your pace we wouldn’t be able to ride anything before the moon appeared.”

“Well, you don’t have to drag me around like a child.”

“You needed a push.” I watched her tail slip behind me, and felt something push against my back.

I chuckled. “Maybe you’re right.”

She smiled and nodded. “Yes, I am.” She pointed at an empty maze of waist height metal bars leading to the ride. “Look, there is no one in line. Let’s go before there is one.”

This time I led the way, and she was right. There was absolutely no one in line. Strange for an amusement park, but maybe this ride wasn’t all that popular. As we got closer to the ride following the iron bar path, I realized this was a rollercoaster. I saw a line of steel lead out from the small roofed building we were walking towards. I could see some of the track, it went up, down, had some loops in it. Seemed like a decent ride. My analysis came to an end once we finally made it to the seating area for the coaster.

There was a teenage girl standing by a podium with a small microphone on it. She was wearing the same red and white striped shirt as the guy I saw in the ticket booth. I could see her legs and she was wearing tan slacks. The coaster itself had 10 cars, and they appeared to be three seaters. It was made of metal, and each car was a sparkly purple color. No one else was here, so I climbed into the first car of the coaster, 11-7 followed me in. I saw there was a seatbelt, so I buckled mine, she did the same.

I looked over at the girl who was managing the coaster. She was chewing gum and typing on a box she was holding in her hands. A smartphone? That’s old tech, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone use one after the invasion, or since Wearable Personal Computers (WPC’s) became popular. Course, we kept calling them phones, but they weren't just phones anymore. Whatever the case she was ignoring us while we were waiting for the ride to start.

I cleared my throat to get her attention. “Hey, uh, I don’t think anyone else is coming.” She rolled her eyes, and set her phone down. She walked over to us and looked at 11-7.

“Ma'am all body parts must be in the ride at all times.” I looked over at 11-7 and saw her tail was still laying out of the car.

11-7 looked over at me. “Mmm. There isn’t enough empty space in the car... Would you mind it if I wrapped my tail around you Lucas?”

Normally something like this would absolutely terrify me. But I trusted her, so I wasn’t scared of getting crushed. I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess, if you have to.”

“Thank you, it’ll only be a small amount.” She moved her tail into the car and filled the space on the floor and in between us. I felt the weight of her tail slide across my lap, and around my back. She moved carefully, clearly trying to not hurt me. She curled her tail around me a few times before she reached my chest below my arms. “Are you comfortable?”

I could feel some heft to what she had wrapped around me. Considering it was only part of her tail, she probably weighed a lot, course it might be rude to mention that to her. Being wrapped up like this was not unpleasant, she had coiled around me loosely, and I could still move around comfortably. I gave her a thumbs up. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

The girl spoke. “Great, you're all comfortable now.” She walked over and tugged on both of our seatbelts, then she walked over to the podium and pushed a button. The bars on each of the carts went down, locking us in place. She started to give us some spiel about how this is the Evicerator, and to keep our arms and legs inside the ride at all times. Then without warning the coaster shot forward and started getting pulled up the incline.

11-7 looked at me, her eyes were wide and she was shaking. I could feel the shaking because she was partially wrapped around me. “This is exciting is it or not.”

I chuckled. “First time on a roller coaster huh?”

She nodded quickly. “Yes, I am feeling excitement, anticipation, and fear all at once. It is strange.”

“I think you’ll really enjoy it once we get over the peak.” I pointed at it.

She turned her head to look at the peak, and I felt her body tighten around me slightly.

After some time passed we were at the peak. I spoke as we went over. “It’s more fun if you put your hands in the air.” I raised my hands up.

Soon after we were rushing down the hill, and through twists, turns, and loops. I couldn't help but yell “Wooooo!” and smile as we sped across the tracks. I could barely hear anything with the wind in my ears and everything around the cart was a blur. I looked over at 11-7 partway through the ride, and unfortunately she didn’t share my enthusiasm. She tightened her tail around me as much as she could without hurting me and had a death grip on the safety bar. When the coaster slowed to a stop, I got a better look at her. Her hood was extended as far as I had ever seen it. She was breathing heavily, and her body was completely stiff. I’m certain her knuckles would be white from how tightly she was gripping the bar, if they were not covered with scales.

I snapped my fingers in front of her. “Are you ok? The ride’s over now.”

She slowly turned her head to face me. “Y.. yes. I am okay. Is this ride supposed to be that scary?”

I chuckled. “Kind of.” I pointed at her hands. “You need me to pry you off the safety bar, or can you manage that yourself? And you’re gripping me a little tight.”

“Oh.” She released her four fingered death grip on the bar. Then she looked at her tail wrapped around me. “Oh!” She loosened her tail. “I apologize for that.”

“It’s fine, but maybe I should pick the next ride.”

As the bars went up she shakily nodded her head. “That would be acceptable.”

We exited the ride and started wandering around the park, while I tried to look for something significantly more tame. 11-7 tried to assure me she wasn’t actually scared, and that she did enjoy the ride, but I didn’t buy it. As we walked around the emptiness of the park became more apparent. There really was no one here except for the staff running the park, and us. It was like the park had been rented out for just the two of us or something. Maybe the whole park wasn’t that popular. As I was thinking about it I noticed the tamest ride possible. The tea cup ride. I was worried 11-7 wouldn’t want to ride it because it was a ride for kids, but then as she spoke I realized she knew nothing about theme park rides, so that wouldn’t be a problem.

Another disinterested worker directed us into our seats inside of one of the colored metal bowls, with a wheel in the middle, and the ride started. We spun around in a circle, and I grabbed the wheel in the middle and started spinning it, which rotated the bowl around. 11-7 helped me spin the wheel for a bit, but looked bored by the ride, until she got an idea. She told me to let go of the wheel, and she wrapped part of her body around its axle. I could only watch helplessly as she ripped her body away from the axle, and like a top, the bowl spun at speeds I’m sure it wasn’t designed for. As I was stuck to my seat and the wall behind me I heard the ride creak and groan. Everything beyond the ride was a blur, and I could only look at 11-7. She was laughing and cheering, while I tried to find something to latch onto, so I wouldn’t fly out of the ride. She must have seen me struggling because she grabbed my waist with her tail and held me down in my seat until the ride ended.

She let go of me. “I am much, - so much, sorry for that.”

I laughed, “Don’t be, that was pretty fun, I was just worried about flying out. Thanks for the save.”

“You’re not upset?”

“Heh, why would I be. I love this place. It was one of the last times I had a lot of fun, before the inva- liberation I mean.” She seemed to be thinking about what I said. “Don’t worry about it, there’s still more rides here.”

She nodded, and off we went. We rode on a few more rides, the swings, one of those ship pendulum rides, and the bumper cars. She didn’t enjoy the bumper cars much because she weighed so much her’s barely moved, but I had a fun time ramming into her over and over again for a few minutes. Now that I’m thinking about it, she barely fit into any of the rides at all. Every time she climbed in I was certain the staff would stop her, but they didn’t. I’m not an expert, but she’s probably violated every safety rule for each ride we went on. Whatever the case, we were both hungry, so we went to some stands to get food. Even the workers there were kind of distant, and not very enthusiastic. It was strange, so I decided to bring it up with her.

I took a drink from my soda, which was free from Advent branding for some reason. “So, uh don’t you think it’s kind of weird how all the workers are kind of apathetic, and the ones that aren’t acted like dicks?” I took a bite of the cheeseburger I was holding.

11-7 swallowed a piece she ripped off of a tenderloin and looked at me. I’m not quite sure why, but she seemed nervous. “What do you mean?”

I swallowed. “I mean, this is an amusement park, I figured working here would be fun.”

“Would you prefer if they were happy?”

I took another drink from my soda. “Yeah I guess, them being dicks certainly isn’t enhancing my experience.”

After I said that 11-7 did something weird. She set her tenderloin down and stared off into space for a few seconds. Then she blinked her eyes a few times, before picking it back up and resuming eating it. Weird, but then again this whole place was weird.

We finished our food, and started looking at the gift shops. As we were walking around I kept drinking my soda. Most of the workers looked happy in the area we were in, guess it was those few that were unhappy. I also noticed everything around here was free from Advent branding, I decided to mention it to 11-7.

“It’s so weird, I haven’t seen a single Advent logo since we walked in.”

She got that nervous look on her face again, like she was trying to hide something, and she started fidgeting with her hands. “This... This park isn’t owned or sponsored by Advent.”

I chuckled a little, but when she didn’t tell me it was a joke I became concerned. “Really?”

She nodded her head and looked confused. “Yes, is that so outrageous?”

I took another drink of my soda. “Well, kinda. Pretty much nothing gets built without Advent funding, or at least their approval. And, you’d have a hell of a time trying to find workers without access to the Advent civilian labor pool.” I paused for a few moments and added to my statement. “It’s not impossible I guess, just almost impossible.”

She looked away from me. “They have managed to do it, so it is the exception.”

I frowned and pointed at her. “And another thing, how do you know so much about this park, and I know nothing. Even though I invited you to come here, supposedly?”

That subtle nervous fidgeting had stopped being subtle, and she was looking around wildly for something. Then she pointed at something. “Ooo, that stand looks cool, let's go over there.” then she sped off behind me going god knows where.

I decided to let it go for now, and turned around to find her. Surprisingly I found her at one of those airbrush name t-shirt stands. She was looking at all of the examples in the stand, while the worker looked quite happy, and was spraying a shirt.

I laughed. “You want a t-shirt huh? I shouldn’t be surprised, it’s the only thing you wear besides your armor.” She didn’t respond, and kept looking over the designs closely. “What would you even put on it?”

She turned around to look at me. “I was thinking about that too, I am considering about acquiring one that said Elle.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Elle? - Is that short for Ellen or something?”

She crossed her arms, scrunched up her face, and smiled. “No, silly. It’s short for Eleven. The - nickname you gave me.”

I rubbed my chin. “A nickname of a nickname, huh. I think it fits you, wonder what I’ll put on mine. Maybe I’ll get Lou written on it.” She looked confused. “Short for Luke, you know L - U.” I drew the letters in the air as I said them.

She nodded. “Yes I understand. Double nickname from Lucas, an equivalence.” But she didn’t laugh.

We waited around and picked our designs, while the guy working there cheerfully painted them up. I decided to be clever and got a snake on mine. The artist decided to paint it to look like 11-7 even though I didn’t tell him to.

We both threw on our shirts once they were finished and turned around to look at each other. She had gotten a plasma rifle painted on hers, and she frowned when she saw mine. Clearly she wasn’t able to appreciate my advanced humor.

“What, you don’t like it?”

She shook her head. “Maybe I should have had a hairless ape painted on mine.”

“Well, I think it looks cool, maybe you should take it as a compliment. Now I’ll pay the guy, since you paid for the food.” I think she said something as I turned around, but I couldn’t make it out.

I walked over to the guy. “How much do I owe you.” Oh shit, I just realized I don’t have my phone.

He shook his head. “Nothing, it is free.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “Free, what do you mean.”

“It...” He froze for a few moments before responding. “Your wristband pays for everything.”

I scratched my head. “Even souvenirs? That doesn’t sound right, is there a limit.”

He froze again for a few moments before responding. “Yes, just this shirt.”

“Huh, but...”

“I am closed now goodbye.” He started packing up all of his supplies and refused to speak with me further.

I walked back to 11-7, looking at the ground. “That was so weird, no payment. I’ve never heard of an amusement park ticket that gets you free souvenirs.” I looked up at her and she was fidgeting with her hands again. “- It’s all so strange, and you’re acting weird too.” I pointed at her as I accused her.

Suddenly her nervousness dissipated. Looking calm, she slithered up to me and placed one of her hands on my shoulder. “Lucas, you worry too much.” She lowered her head to be at eye level with me. “How long has it been since you’ve been at an amusement park?”

That question gave me pause. I looked into those piercing red eyes she had, and I felt compelled to be honest. “It’s been a long time, - so long I honestly don’t remember.”

She grinned slightly. “Do you remember what happens at amusement parks?”

“Kinda, - I don’t remember exactly how it works.”

She chuckled and lifted her head back up. “Then why be concerned.” She offered her hand forward for me to grab. “Come on, there is still a whole amusement park to explore.”

I looked at that orange scaly four fingered hand, and realized something. Something was off about this place, for sure. But, I could keep questioning all the weird shit I was seeing, or I could have a fun time. I looked at my own hand, and made my decision. I reached out to her’s and gripped it firmly. “So, uh. What did you have in mind.”

She put a finger up to her chin and pretended to think. “I saw some games over by the entrance, let us try some.”

So we headed over to the entrance. Of course the first one she honed in on was a shooting gallery. The girl running the game got us set up with these BB guns that were clearly made for children. And, our wristbands let us play the game for free. 11-7 glanced at me over the small wooden gun she enveloped with her large hands and smirked. She moved her scaly brows up and down a few times. Clearly confident she would win, too bad for her I wasn’t just gonna throw in the towel before the game began. I may not have much experience with guns, but I’ve done a little target practice before. I used to live on a farm for god's sake. My dad would be ashamed of me if I lost a game like this to an alien. Course he’d probably be ashamed of me for talking to one too.

The buzzer rang, and three rows of bullseyes moved across the board in opposing directions. I took my time aiming my shots, and hit a target most of the time I pulled the trigger. Hearing that resounding ping sound for every BB that struck the metal bullseyes. Unfortunately for every one of my pings, I heard two or three extra pings that were not mine. In the end the score was tallied up. She had beaten me 35 to 13.

She was holding her gun up in the air with one hand, and smiled at me. “Don’t feel upset, this is what was expected. I have been trained for years in combat.”

I frowned. “Best - two - outta - three.”

She squinted her eyes and aimed her gun at the targets and the game began again.

Best two out of three, turned into best three out of five, and so on and so forth. I gave up at best 7 out of 12. There was no way I was going to beat her at a shooting game, I had to admit that, but maybe I could beat her at something else.

We played, the ring toss, knocking over bottles with a baseball, throwing darts at balloons, and skeeball. I lost every contest multiple times, she even beat me at shooting hoops. I don't know how she did so well with a basketball, but I’m sure her having the ability to move higher than the hoop helped. I guess technically she had the ability to be as tall as she wanted, so long as she had enough of her tail on the ground to keep from tipping over. With her speed and height, she’d probably make a good basketball player as long as she didn’t pop the ball. I clearly needed a change of tactics, I just wanted one win.

11-7 put her arm around me. “Don’t feel so bad, I have many talents that make me suitable to protect you. But I did win, so you must admit defeat now.” She laughed after saying that.

“Not yet, we still have yet to play the ultimate challenge.”

She stopped laughing and looked at me with a serious expression. “What game would that be? I believe you are a sore loser.”

I scanned the area. “I’m not a sore loser. It’s, uh...” The only thing I could see in the immediate area was a - claw machine game... Perfect. “That one over there.” I pointed at it.

She looked where I was pointing and snorted. “The cheap looking glass box?”

“Yes, that is the ultimate test of skill.”

She crossed her arms. “Very well, but after I win this game you must admit defeat.”

“Ok, but what if I win?”

She chuckled. “I will admit you beat me, - at this game.”

“I’m fine with that.”

We made our way over to the claw machine, and I pushed the start button. It didn’t need any tokens for some reason. I gripped the joystick and with the precision of a seasoned claw machine veteran, I plucked a stuffed bear out of it. I waved my prize in front of 11-7. She ignored it, and moved up to the claw machine. She started the game, moved the claw to a spot, and grabbed - nothing.

I put my hand on her shoulder. “This game requires a master’s touch. You shouldn’t feel bad about losing.”

She snorted. “Besst two out of three.”

She tried a few more times before she gave up. “Alright, you are better at this game than me.”

“That’s right, and don’t you forget it. Lucas, the master of the, uh - claw machine. Doesn’t sound that impressive of a feat now that I said it out loud.”

She nodded. “Yess, and I am the - master of the skeeball and the basketball and the... “

“Don’t wear yourself out now.”

She snorted and smiled. “I am tired of these games, we should go on more rides.”

I was getting bored of the carnival games too. “Sure.”

We rode on more rides. I steadily worked 11-7 up to more thrilling rides over the course of a few hours. I eventually got her back on a roller coaster, but she was still scared.

We climbed into the seat easy enough, but once she wrapped me up with her tail like last time, she got all apprehensive. She tightened her tail marginally to get my attention. “I’m not sure about this, Lucas.”

“Ree-lax, this one is way more tame than the other one you rode on.” That didn’t assuage her concerns, so I decided to tease her. “You know if you’re so scared, I could hold your hand.” I chuckled after saying that.

She looked at me with a blank expression and blinked her eyes. Then, while making a hmph noise, she turned her head away from me. “I may be scared, but I do not need to hold your hand like some child.” I figured that would be that, but then she extended her hand to me. “But, if you want to hold hands for enjoyment I won’t stop you.” She had an intense look on her face that did not match this cutesy gesture at all.

Now, she had me all wrapped up with part of her body, which was arguably more risque than holding hands, and we had held hands a few times today, but something about the way she looked at me made it seem more - intimate.

I reached my hand out and grabbed her’s. It was soft, smooth, and I felt a subtle warmth from it. That serious look she had softened, and she genuinely looked surprised. I couldn’t think of what to say, and she didn’t say anything either. Maybe nothing needed to be said. We enjoyed that ride.

After a few more rides the sun was going down, and with it about to be dark, I figured now would be the perfect atmosphere for the last ride we hadn’t tried yet, the Ferris wheel.

The ferris wheel itself was a sight to behold. It was huge, towering well above everything else, and because it was dark now the lights had been turned on. Various shades of blue and orange light skirted along the spokes out from the center and around the edges of the wheel to create an impressive lightshow. 11-7 was captivated by the lights as we got closer to it. I saw the light show reflected in her wide eyes. I found myself staring, It was a pretty sight. Perhaps I was more captivated by her eyes than what they reflected...

“How many?” I was taken out of my thoughts by a cheerful man in front of me.

It would seem we finally made it through the maze of barriers. “Uh, two.” I responded.

He gestured to the open cabin in front of us. “Climb in and I’ll start the ride.”

The cabin was fully enclosed, and spacious on the inside. There were two benches across from each other, and some glass on the walls to see out of, otherwise the inside was the same shade of blue as the outside, and there wasn’t much to look at. Not that that mattered, you’re supposed to look outside of the cabin anyway. I sat on one bench, 11-7 sat on the other, and the ride began.

There was enough room for both of us, but her body was taking up most of the empty space in the cabin, which made it feel tight. She was enthralled with the view outside, and pressed her face up to the glass as the ferris wheel began to slowly spin, and raised our cabin up above the amusement park. I looked out the window and saw the other rides in the park get smaller. It was a sight to behold, all the rides had their own lights, and each one was moving in it’s own pattern. They looked impressive individually, but together, all moving and flashing various colors, each in their own dance under the night sky, it created a sight that was picturesque and uniquely beautiful. But, my thoughts were not on the beautiful sight that lay below me now, but on the creature I shared this cramped cabin with.

I felt conflicted, so many thoughts and feelings all together; all centered around that orange and yellow serpent. It would take me hours to address all of them, but the longer I thought about it, the more the white noise dissipated, and soon I had reached a conclusion.

I broke the silence “Hey, 11-7.” She turned her head away from the window. “I’ve uh, had a lot of fun today. I honestly can’t remember the last time I went out and did something like this. It’s nearly impossible to find the time, and there’s always safety concerns... So, thanks for uh, coming along.”

After hearing what I had to say, she squinted her eyes and turned her whole body to face me. I guess she could tell I had something important to say. “Yes, I have received much enjoyment as well. You do not seem interested in the view, you should look, it is nice.”

A shadow from one of the spokes passed over the cabin for a moment. We had been through quite a bit together, hell I practically hated her in the beginning, and now we were friends. Yeah, friends... Something about that word didn’t sit right with me, like I was lying to someone, - lying to myself. And I’m starting to think that maybe there is something more there. Something I’m not sure I fully understand yet. A new dimension to our friendship was growing and I had no control over it. I felt a warmth every time I saw her smile, happiness whenever I was around her, even just seeing her in the morning made my days a little brighter. Is that affection? I never thought I’d say these things about an alien, course I never wanted to befriend one either... No, she is more than just an alien, her name is 11-7. She’s not completely foreign to me, not anymore. There was a genuine understanding between us, and I’m certain she knew more about me than she let on. The shadow passed and I saw that cute snakelike face of hers again. It held a subtle curiosity as she continued to flick her tongue out and observe me.

My concerns started to dissipate, and I felt compelled to continue down this uncharted path. I cleared my throat. “Uh, Why would I look outside, when - the view I have in here is so much better.” I smiled awkwardly after I said that.

She cocked her head and blinked her eyes a few times. I saw something flash across her face for a second, but it quickly went away and turned into more confusion. “What do you mean?”

She clearly doesn’t understand subtlety, I’m going to have to be more direct. “I’m trying to say I like - you - 11-7.” I pointed at her for effect. “I, uh, like you a lot. Maybe more than just as a friend.”

Her expression changed, and I couldn’t read it anymore. “You - love - me?”

I felt my heart rate quicken, was this really happening right now. “I... I think I do.”

She froze for a few moments, and then she giggled. “Oh, my. Confessing your love for me, while you know you’re inside a dream. How bold.”

This took a 180 degree turn. “What?”

She sat up off of her seat and started moving towards me. “You humans are so empathetic, - even when there’s nothing there, or the things you empathize with would kill you if you gave them the chance.”

She stopped moving once she was right in front of me. I didn’t feel fear as she got closer, but my heart was pounding against my ribcage. “What are you getting at?”

She brought her face close to mine, so close that every time she flicked her tongue out it tickled the tip of my nose. “I am saying you should be scared of me, but you are not.” She got a serious look in her eyes. “Did you mean what you said, do you truly love me?”

“I, uh...” My mind went blank, I couldn’t think of anything to say. And here was 11-7 two inches from my face demanding an answer. I had to think of something... What the hell, she was right, this is a dream anyways. In this moment I felt my inhibitions lifted away. I leaned forward and looked at her face. Our lips met, and I felt electricity shoot all around my body. I must have caught her off guard because her hood flared out and she tried leaning backwards. But, after a few seconds she leaned into me. Surprisingly, her lips were not coarse, but a spongy texture, and I could feel the shallow grooves between her sleek scales. Our tongues danced at the edge of each other's lips, neither of us being adventurous enough to venture any deeper. I wrapped my arms around her, and she hugged me back. We held each other in this close embrace for a few moments, the warmth of our bodies mingling together, before I realized something. I hadn’t woken up yet and I was still kissing her.

I pulled away from the kiss for a moment to catch my breath. I blinked my eyes, she was still in front of me and I was still in a ferris wheel cabin. What the hell was going on, why was I still asleep? I wasn’t given much time to think about that. 11-7’s tongue darted out and moved across her lips. I saw a deep hunger in her eyes, a look I think I was familiar with. She repositioned herself while I wondered what would happen next. She moved her face close to me and started curling her body around mine. Before I could react, her head lunged forward, like a snake biting into prey, but instead of biting she brought me into another kiss. Her body was completely pressed against mine, and she was much more aggressive now. Her hands were moving all around behind my back, touching and grabbing it. I felt her smooth bifurcated tongue enter my mouth and intertwine with my own. This kiss was sloppy, I felt her hot breath in my mouth, against my face and neck. Saliva coated the outside of my mouth, and dripped down my face, I wasn’t sure whether it was mine or hers. She was using her whole body to hug and rub against me, smothering me completely with her affections. A fire was being stirred inside me and I was compelled to push back against her. I moved my tongue into her mouth, I couldn’t reach much, but I felt the bottom of her fangs, and the front of her velvety mouth. I hugged her as tightly as I could, but her ability to wrap around me outclassed my efforts. For some time our bodies were twisted together like this: kissing and moving against one another, each groping whatever we could reach.

We pulled away from each other for a moment to catch our breath. We were both breathing heavily. I chuckled “I - uh, really thought I was gonna wake up after that first kiss.”

She tried to slow her breathing and smiled. “You watch too many movies Lucas. - That would have been cinematic and poetic, but this isn’t a movie. There won’t be any fading to black.”

So, - here I was, tangled up with an aroused Viper after passionately mixing our saliva together for several minutes. “Right, so - uh. What now?” Her body was still pressed up against mine, including my crotch, and all this movement was making me think of some dirty things.

She raised her eyebrows and gyrated her hips against mine. “I could think of a few things we could do.” She caressed my face with the back of her hand after saying that.

As her hand left my cheek, I shuddered. The thought of being even closer to her was exciting, and I’m not sure if I’ve ever wanted anything more... But I - had to - consider some things. What would happen after I woke up if we did, and I did not know what her sexual anatomy was like. “I have some, minor concerns. What will happen when I wake up, after - this?”

She snorted, but held onto that predatory gaze. “You humans, always concerned about something. Never fully letting yourself enjoy anything, when everything you’ve ever wanted is right in front of you.” She stopped speaking for a few moments, letting me think about what she said presumably. “You’ll have to decide if the rissk is worth the reward.”

“What about your body?”

She chuckled and looked down at her chest. “What about it?”

“I - uh, don’t even know if you have a - pussy, or where it would be. Is it like at the end of your tail like a snake, or where your hips are like a human.” I looked down at her waist and still didn’t see anything. “Do - do you have both?”

She giggled. “How brash you are, going right for that when we barely know each other.” That statement kinda conflicted with what she said before, but before I could respond, she continued. “But you are right, I cannot have something you haven’t seen before. This presents a problem.” She put a finger up to her chin, in thought.

I crossed my arms and smirked. “You sure are ruining the illusion of this being real now.”

Her squinted eyes darted over to me. “You didn’t want to play along, so now we’re playing a different game.” She moved her face close to mine again. “One where I know what I want, and I know exactly what - you want.” She lightly poked one of her claws into my chest as she said you.

She started moving against my body again. I was no longer sitting on the bench, I was sitting on and leaning back against part of her body, and she was all around me. I could barely see the ferris wheel cabin anymore. “I see, what - did you uh, have in mind.”

She held the back of my head with her hand, and moved in slowly to kiss me. At the last second she turned her head, and rubbed her face against mine as she brought her lips close to my ear. Her face was not soft or meaty like a human’s, but it was smooth as glass. I felt her scales rub against my cheek and the faint heat they gave off. She moved her jaw slightly, rubbing the side of her mouth against my temple. Her hot breath tickled my ear as she whispered to me. “You know that I have a mouth.” She nibbled on my earlobe with her lips, and I felt a chill move across my body.

She moved her head back and looked me in the eyes. I saw all her desire projected in those half lidded scarlet eyes, and she winked at me. This was actually about to happen. I wanted to feel her against me in any way possible. I didn’t even think about it. I swallowed audibly and “Ok.” was all I managed to spit out.

That soft smile grew into a devilish grin. “Let’s not waste any time then.”

I grunted as she grabbed my crotch with her right hand. She looked down there and kneaded it with her hand through my pants. She didn’t seem satisfied with what she felt, and without warning she mashed her lips against mine, and again we were locked in another passionate kiss. She continued to fondle me, as she grabbed my hand and forced it against one of her breasts. I took the hint, and ravished it in kind. Her whole body undulated against me from all angles, and she rubbed her torso against me fiercely. With all this - stimulation, it did not take me long to reach full mast, and she took notice immediately. She withdrew her tongue from my mouth, and leaned back. I tried to follow her lips with mine, but she pushed me away with her hand, and coiled around my torso with the end of her tail.

I could still move my legs, but my torso was immobilized, she had stopped just short of my neck with her body, and stroked the top of my head with the tip of her tail. Being wrapped up like this didn’t bother me, - this was the third time she had done it today, but it was clear she didn’t want me moving. I chuckled. “Is this really necessary?” I looked down at her coils as I said that.

She made a noise that sounded like, hm. “Ensuring I have a good grip on you.” She reached her hand forward and booped me on the nose. “Can’t have you squirming around. Do not worry, you will enjoy this.”

She moved down to my waist, and I felt her fingers rub against my thighs as she pulled my pants and underwear down to my ankles. I expected cool air to brush against my naked body, but there was no sensation. I looked over at one of the windows and saw it was covered with condensation, guess things were getting a little hot in here. My member stood to attention, and she was observing it, with - pride? I didn’t have time to think about what that meant because she engulfed my full length with her mouth in an instant. The inside of her mouth was soft and tight, and I glided in with ease.

As it slid in I passed two fleshy bumps at the front of her mouth, the base of her fangs. I should have been scared, but the thought of rubbing against them gave this experience a sense of danger, which only excited me more. My reflexes kicked in and I bucked against her face. I grunted “fuck.” as she kissed the base of my manhood effortlessly. She was so warm, and her hot breaths caressed my groin as she moved. I was already a mess after she practically swallowed my dick, then she brought her tongue into the equation. She moved her head back, and slowly curled her tongue around my length. Starting at the tip, and working her way down to the bottom, outside of her mouth. I felt that smooth and warm appendage rub against every millimeter of my cock. The sensation was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

I was surprised that she just went for it,, and disappointed there was no foreplay, so I stammered out something to voice my concerns. “It’s - not - a chee-eeeseburger.”.

She snorted, and presumably elected to ignore my statement. Once she had completely enveloped it she started bobbing her head, and her tongue moved along to the rhythm. She started out slow, her tongue dragging along my shaft, leaving a trail of saliva and the feeling of coolness as she moved away from me, and returning it back to that warm fleshy hilt as she moved closer to me. Her soft orange lips, and that voracious mouth followed not far behind, attending to whatever her tongue was not.

She somehow knew what she was doing, which raised questions. I felt every coil of her tongue bump against my head, which sent wave after wave of pleasure across my body. I began to feel a warm pressure gradually building in my groin. If she was trying to make me cum as fast as she could, she was well on her way to succeeding. I had to grit my teeth and focus on containing myself to make this last a little longer. I could not think anymore, I was here in the moment, enjoying everything she was lavishing me with. I managed to have some success holding back, because I heard her snort out of annoyance.

She released my member, and slammed me down. I could not see her above what she had coiled around my torso. I groaned in protest, but before I could say anything, she was back to it. This time bringing my testicles into the mix. Gently caressing them with her tongue, as she redoubled her fellatio efforts. Pumping faster and faster, and sucking with her powerful throat. I felt that pressure steadily build up and up until I was teetering over the edge. I couldn’t take it anymore. “I - I’m gonna C-” I felt a jolt of pleasure shoot up my spine as I released everything I could into her eager gullet. I felt nothing but bliss as my vision went white.

-

I opened my eyes and tried to sit up immediately, I banged my head against the metal helmet thing it was inside. “Ah, fuck!”

As I laid back down and groaned, I saw 11-7 slither into view. “Lucas, are you alright?”

I scootched forward a little and slowly sat up, avoiding the metal helmet this time. I rubbed my head as I responded. “Mmmh, yeah, I’m ok. Just banged my head.” As I shifted my legs around I felt something sticky on my thighs. Shit, I looked down and saw a wet spot on my robe. Of course I did, I shouldn’t be surprised after all that. Maybe she won’t notice.

Her forked tongue flicked out slower, and she started looking around the room. “What is that smell?”

I tried to play it off. “Hmm, What smell?”

She furrowed her brow. “I don’t know what it is. I’ve smelled it before, but it was only in your room and it was fainter than it is now.” She slithered around the room flicking her tongue out slowly.

Shit. “I’m sure it’s nothing important. Say, where is that technician?”

She responded as she continued her investigation. “She left, and she said that you could wash up in the bathroom over there, change into your clothes, and leave. Once you awakened.”

As she moved around the room she was steadily getting closer to me. “Oh that’s cool, I think I’ll go do that then.” But before I could get up and clean off my shame, 11-7 was standing right in front of me and staring at the wet spot on my robe, flicking out her tongue.

“You uh, figure out that smell?”

She nodded, and looked at my face. “It is coming from you. What is it?”

“Oh, it’s probably semen.” Why in god’s name did I just say that.

She raised an eyebrow. “Sea - men? What is that.”

“It’s - you know, genetic material for reproduction. Nothing to concern yourself with.” I just did it again.

She squinted her eyes, and I got the feeling she didn’t believe me. “What did you experience?”

“I had a pretty interesting dream. You should try playing basketball sometime by the way, you’d probably be really good at it.”

She cocked her head, and looked as confused as I had ever seen her. “Do you feel any different?”

I checked over myself, and I really did feel different. “I do, there’s no more anxiety, no fear.” I looked around the room and smiled. “My conscience is clear.” I jumped off the bed and grabbed her shoulders. “Oh, I feel like a million credits 11-7, - pure - euphoria, like nothing else matters” She moved her head away from me as I spoke.

That confusion on her face quickly turned into concern. “You should sit down.”

I chuckled. “Sit down, why would I? I feel - great. Now, I’m gonna get cleaned up and be out in a second. You tell Ron to come back and pick us up. I’m ready to go home.”

I didn’t wait for her to respond, and rushed into the bathroom. Soon enough I was cleaned up and on my way home. Ron asked me how it went and I told him it was amazing. He was glad to hear that I enjoyed it, and said I looked a lot happier. At least he was happy for me. 11-7 was not taking her eyes off of me at all, observing me closely the whole way home.

Once we went inside I sat on the couch and started watching TV. 11-7 joined me, but she was constantly looking over at me. I didn’t care about the TV, I couldn’t stop thinking about that dream I had and what it meant. What the fuck was all that? How the hell did that machine work? Why did it give me a sexy dream, was it intentional? There was a bathroom in there to clean up in, so It’s possible. Whatever it did to me it really made me feel better, and that dream made me realize something. I looked over at the viper sitting across from me on the couch and smiled. It showed me what I wanted.

But, there was something different about her in my dream. Was the viper from my dream really 11-7? Is she some sexual beast just waiting for an opportunity to be set loose upon me? I looked over at her, she was watching TV, coiled up in a pile on the couch. I wasn’t picking up on any lustful predatory vibes like that, watching her. Is that how I view her, or is that what the machine made? I wonder could she love me, does her kind even have that capacity? I... I don’t think I know the answer to those questions. But I can say with certainty, that was a dream, it wasn’t her. I’ll just have to find out who she is for myself, dreams and fantasy won’t tell me anything. I’ll have to be careful and tread lightly. This is a path few, if any, have traveled, and there isn’t a map.

I should do something for her, a gesture she’d really appreciate. Hmmm, but what does she like? Food, video games, learning - I guess, movies... That’s perfect, I’ll take her out to the movie theater, and I’ll let her pick the movie. I leaned back on the couch and smiled, I hope she has good taste.

I made small talk with 11-7 as we watched various movies on the tv. She got bored after a while, so we played a game together for a bit. I got tired after a while and finally decided it was time for bed. I bid her goodnight, and climbed into my bed. Excited for what tomorrow would bring, and happy there would be no nightmares tonight. Things were starting to look up for me, finally. I hope they stay this way, if only for a little while.


	10. Chapter 10

The sound of my alarm woke me up. I sat up in my bed and stretched before shutting it off. I smacked my lips twice and smiled. If I had any dreams last night they certainly weren’t nightmares. I reached for my phone and immediately messaged Manny about it, and told him I was going to the movie theater today. He said he was happy to hear my outing was successful, and okayed my trip to the movie theater. Then he reminded me that there was only so much time left on my vacation and that he would start scheduling things for me on Monday. I suppose it had to come to an end eventually, but I still had some time before then. Maybe going back to work wouldn’t be so bad now, with 11-7 by my side. Speaking of which, as I messaged my manager I smelled something simultaneously kinda good and burnt, but distinctly eggy. 

I threw on some clothes and made my way into the kitchen. It was somewhat of a mess. There were ingredients all over my island countertop, I saw milk substitute, a carton of liquid egg proteins, flour, and some other things. 11-7 was coiled up and had put her head down on the island on top of her crossed arms. As I approached the mess, she lifted her head up slightly and peered at me from her arms. 

I smelled the air again. “Smells kinda good in here, what are you making?”

Upon hearing my question she rose out of her slump. I noticed she was wearing my apron and it had some yellow stains on it. She straightened herself out and proudly gestured to the oven. “I am making a Qui-chee. An advanced dish, from a recipe on the cooking show.” She pointed at the tv with a clawed finger.

“You mean a quiche? - What exactly is that? I’ve heard the name before, but I’ve never really thought about what it was.”

She smiled. “The cooking woman referred to it as egg pie.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound very good.”

“I assure you it will be, go - sit. It will be ready soon.”

I walked into the livingroom, past the dining room set I never used, and sat on the couch. I looked over at her from the couch. “I didn’t realize I’d be getting a personal chef, when you were hired on.” I chuckled after saying that.

She looked back at me. “I didn’t realize I would enjoy making food this much until I started.“

“Why do you like it so much?”

“It is an enjoyable activity that I get to eat the results of.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Can’t argue with that.”

Not long after I heard a buzzing sound and 11-7 struggled to get some oven mitts on. They didn’t fit on her hands well because her fingers are so long, but she managed to take out her - quiche and set it on the counter. She prepared two plates, one she placed a sizable piece on and on the other she placed the rest of the quiche. 

She brought it into the living room, and handed me my plate. It looked pretty good, and smelled nice, but I noticed something was missing. “Could you get me a fork?”

She cocked her head. “A fork, why?”

“So I can eat it.”

“You need one to eat? Why haven’t you used one before?”

“Well, I don’t _need_ one to eat this, I’d prefer to have one, so I don’t get my hands dirty.”

She nodded. “I understand.” She set her plate on the coffee table and slithered into the kitchen, returning with a fork.

She handed it to me and I took a bite of her quiche. It wasn’t bad, but the crust was a little burnt. I’ve never had it before, so I couldn’t compare it to anything. “Not bad, course I’d eat almost anything if someone else made it.”

As I looked over at her I noticed she hadn’t touched her plate yet and was watching me intently. I was impressed she was staving off her hunger like this. “I am pleased to hear you are enjoying it. What do you think of the crust?”

I didn’t exactly feel like being a harsh critic this morning. “The crust, uhhh. It’s - good”

She put her hands together and smiled. “This is excellent.” She puffed out her chest as she spoke. “It took me only four tries to get the crust right.”

That got a chuckle out of me. “Wow, only four?”

“Impressive, I am aware. Now I will try it.”

As she went to swallow three quarters of this egg pie, I remembered something from my dream yesterday: her swallowing smaller bites of food instead of swallowing the whole thing at once. I stopped her. “Hey, you should swallow smaller pieces.”

She froze and pulled the quiche away from her face, slowly closing that inhuman mouth of hers. As much as I had seen her eat, it was still unsettling to see how wide she could open her mouth. “Like how you eat?”

“Yeah, you’d probably be able to taste it better.”

She used one of her claws to cut off a smaller chunk of the quiche and she swallowed it. She did that a few more times before snorting. “Too slow.” Then she swallowed the rest. “The taste was more, but I am hungry.”

I shrugged my shoulders and continued to eat my piece. “Whatever works for you.” 

“You seem much happier now, did you sleep well?”

I nodded. “I did actually, I slept great last night.”

She looked away from me for a few moments. I saw uncertainty on her face, and the tip of her tail curled up tightly. After that she turned to me looking quite resolute. As I was eating she asked me a question I was not prepared for. “Are you alright, has anything been troubling you lately?”

I almost choked on what I was chewing. She’s observant, as always. “You noticed that did you?” She crossed her arms and snorted in response. I had hoped she would let it be, but I should really know better by now. I took a moment to swallow it down with some water before responding. “Some things were troubling me before, - they weren’t things you could have helped with... But, I’m all better now. The A.R.C was just what I needed.” She started to say something, but I cut her off. “Ahee! I’ve got something fun planned for today. We don’t need to talk about this now.”

She seemed upset that I cut her off, but me mentioning the thing I had planned successfully diverted her attention. “What sort of an activity do you have planned?”

I stretched and pretended to be disinterested. “Well, I was planning on going to the movie theater today. Would you like to come along?”

“The movie theater?” She paused for a few moments. “I know what it is. I have seen it in some of the programs on the television.” She looked proud of herself for knowing that. Then she looked confused. “Why do you ask me to come? I am required to escort you at all times outside the neighborhood, you know this.”

“Well, I’m always dragging you around with me, so I figured I’d invite you to come along this time.”

She took a few moments to process what I said, and a grin spread across her face. “I appreciate the gesture Lucas.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, an activity we’d be doing - together, - outside the house, should be a good time.”

She squinted her eyes and studied my face. Then she looked away for a few moments before responding. “I’m not sure I am understanding what you are saying.” 

“Oh nothing, I just think it’s an activity we’ll both enjoy, you know - _together_ , at the same time.” She still wasn’t getting the hint. I just gave up. “So, did you want to come? I didn’t hear a yes.”

She still looked confused, but then I saw a flash of understanding on her face. “I would love to go to the movie theater with you, Lucas Hickey. Is that what you wanted to hear, a complete sentence?”

“Eh, - yeah. Ron should be here later to take us to the late showing. What did you want to do in the meantime?”

“Let us play more of the Halo 2 game, we are making much progress.” 

“Yeah, sure let me finish my quiche first. You know we’re almost to the part where we get to play as one of the aliens.”

Her eyes lit up as I said that. “That is exciting.”

-

Some time later I got the message from Ron that he was almost here, so I told 11-7 to go get ready. Soon enough we were in the car and being driven to the theater.

11-7 poked my arm to get my attention because I was staring out the window. “What exactly is the movie theater like?”

“Oh it’s great, there’s snacks, and the screen you watch the movie on is humongous.”

11-7 nodded excitedly. “Yes, that is what I saw in the programs I watched.”

Ron piped up from the front. “I haven’t been to the theater in a long time. Don’t have much interest in the garbage they put out these days. Nope, I’ll stick with the classics.”

“Yeah, you got quite the movie collection don’t you Ron?”

He looked at me through the rearview mirror and spoke. “I wouldn’t brag about it or nothin. I got a few though.” He slowed down at a red light and turned around to look at 11-7. “All Advent approved, just so ya know.” He turned back to face the front.

11-7 waved a hand dismissively. “I’m certain you are in compliance with Advent policy. It is not my duty to police _your_ collections.”

I saw Ron shoot her a confused look through the rearview mirror as he pulled forward through the green light. “That’s kind of ya to say. - It’s funny how some things went forwards, and others went backwards.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “Back in my day I thought theaters were gonna go outta business. Everybody was streaming movies and shows through the internet, but once Advent came in they got rid of all the infrastructure for that. Now people go to the theater, or buy physical disks like how it was before streaming. I think it's funny we got all these rayguns and shit, but people are still watching blu-rays n’ DVD’s.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, that’s kinda funny. You’d think we’d have something better than disks by now.”

“Hey if it ain’t broke, why fix it. I ain’t complainin. Made some nice cash lending my movies to those businesses that produce copies of em.” 

“Always the profeteer, eh.”

“Gotta make whatcha can, especially these days. Three minutes early. Ain’t I the best driver er what?” He pulled into a parking lot in front of the theater. 

“Damn that _was_ quick.”

He turned around to look at us in the back seat. “It don’t take too long to get to commercial district C from your neighborhood.” He looked at 11-7 and he looked like he wanted to say something, then he looked at me. “I should probably tell you this, cuz I know your manager didn’t, but aliens aren’t too appreciated inside the recreational type commercial buildings.”

11-7 squinted her eyes and frowned slightly. A tinge of anger in her voice. “What do you mean?”

“Well I... I mean that. Unless there is a problem inside those kinds of buildings, most folks don’t appreciate bein around the uh non-human types.”

She scoffed. “I’d like to see one bold enough to ask me to leave.”

He put his hands up non-threateningly. “I’m sure no one will cause ya too much trouble. I’m just letting ya know because Lucas here hasn’t been there in a while, and he never went in with a snake.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine. Come on 11-7. Let’s go before the movie starts.” 

Ron didn’t say anything, he just nodded once. We left the car and made our way to the front of the movie theater. The building itself wasn’t anything to boast about. It was large, square, and had a brown stone look to it. It did have a large neon sign that spelled out Galaxy 32 vertically in red lettering above the entrance, and some glass cases ro the side that had posters for the movies they were showing. There weren’t a lot of people outside the theater, so I figured now would be a good time to ask 11-7. 

I hung a right at the entrance and looked at some of those movie posters they had posted behind glass cases. 11-7 looked at me strangely from the entrance. I waved her over, and once she was next to me I waved my arm, gesturing to all of the posters. “See any you like?”

She cocked her head and looked at me. After a few moments she understood what I was saying. “I couldn’t possibly pick, you are funding this outing. I would hate to choose wrong.”

I smiled. “Well, it’s your first time, I want you to choose. - Not to mention Ron was right, I haven’t really gone to the theater in a while, so I wouldn’t know what to pick either.”

She didn’t think it over very long. “If you are insisting that I do, I will pick.” She dropped her plasma rifle to her side and began examining the posters. After about a minute she turned to look at me. “How would you pick? Should I pick the one with the best poster?” 

That gave me a chuckle. “No, usually I read the descriptions. Here let me pull up the theater's website on my phone, and you can ask me about the ones that interest you.” 

She pointed to one of the posters. It depicts a dark scene on a highway with a teenager running from a bunch of people that are just standing in the street and staring at him. The word _Them_ is listed at the bottom in bold print. “What’s this one?”

I looked it up on the theaters website and skimmed through the description. “It’s about alien parasites taking over peoples minds, and only the younger generation can notice who’s affected. That kid on the poster tries to do something about it. I heard some of the reviews of this one, it's decent.”

She frowned. “Doesn’t interest me.” She pointed to another one. “What about this one?”

The poster depicted a man in helmetless Advent armor with a ruined city as the background and an Advent flag waving behind him. The text at the bottom of the screen read _Sector 993 Halton’s Revenge_ . “It’s just your standard pro Advent war movie, nothing special, and this one’s a sequel which means It’ll probably be worse than the original. _Sector 993_ wasn’t even that great to begin with.”

She cocked her head. “Are sequels always bad?”

“Not always, - just most of the time.”

She scratched her face with her free hand for a few moments. “The one called E - T. What is that about?”

“ET?” I looked at the posters and saw the one she was talking about. It was blue and depicted the silhouette of a boy on a bike with something on the handlebars flying in front of the moon above a forest. “I think I know this one, I might have seen it when I was younger. It’s an old movie about an alien that gets stranded on earth, and a boy tries to get him back home.”

Her eyes widened, and I noticed her tongue was flicking out slower. “How old is this movie?”

I shrugged. “Pretty old. I know it was made well before Advent got here.”

She looked at the ground for a few moments in thought, and looked back up at me. “A movie about a human _helping_ an alien, made before Advent’s arrival. I did not know the existence of something like that.”

“Well sure, there’s been plenty of movies made before Advent arrived that are like that.”

“From my experience, I had thought most pre Advent movies portrayed aliens as enemies.”

I nodded. “Some did and some didn’t, I couldn’t tell you exactly how many. But, believe it or not some of us had hope that you’d come in peace. Course, humanity isn’t exactly of one mind. We never have been, and we never will be.”

She observed me as I spoke, and seemed fascinated by what I was saying. After I finished she took her time to process what I said before speaking. “Interesting. - I have made my selection, I pick the ET movie. Let us go now.” She began slithering towards the entrance. 

I suppose we’ve wasted enough time standing around. I jogged to catch up with her and we entered the theater. The interior was brightly lit and had a real 80’s aesthetic to it, or at least that’s what I was told by one of the workers when I asked about it before. The 80’s was before my time. The color scheme was teal, white, and pink. The carpeting reflected that with floral patterns and geometric shapes. There were velvet ropes that led up to the ticket counter, luckily there wasn’t a line so we moved right up to it. As I walked up, I noticed the girl working the ticket counter seemed nervous, and she had this uncomfortable looking fake smile plastered on her face. She was wearing a black polo and black pants, and there was white text on the right side of her shirt that said _Cinestar_. The counter itself had a greish top, with a fake wood look on the bottom.

The girl's eyes darted from 11-7 to me. She seemed unsure of who to address, eventually she decided on me. “Is there a problem sir?”

I shook my head and put my hands up. “Oh, no.” I pointed at 11-7 with my thumb. “She’s just my bodyguard. I’m here to see a movie.”

She relaxed slightly, but still seemed on edge. I noticed as I spoke to her she occasionally looked at 11-7. “What would you like to see?” 

“Uh yeah, gimme...” I looked back at 11-7 for a few moments, and then looked back at the cashier. “6 adults for ET.”

As I said that she got all tense again, but she held onto that smile. “6? Is there more coming in?”

“No, I just figured since she’s gonna take up more seats I should buy more tickets.”

Her eyes darted from 11-7 to me again. “That’s not necessary sir. You can just pay for two tickets.”

That’s cool of her to do. “Really? Thanks. Say, what’s your name?”

“Em, - eh - Katie.” She barely squeaked out her name.

“Katie, well you’re doing a banged-up job, ring me up for two tickets. I’m Lucus by the way, Lucas HIckey. Maybe you’ve heard of me?”

She shook her head and quickly typed on her console. “I can’t say I have.” 

I waved my phone in front of the register to pay for the tickets. “Aw well, it’s not important. Have a good night.” 

I heard her say “you too” as she handed my two tickets and I walked up to the concession stand.

There were a few lines up to the counter, so we had to pick one and wait. The concession area looked like how you would expect. Grey counter with candy under some glass displays in the counter. There were popcorn and drink machines in the back. I could hear the popcorn popping, as several workers tended to customers. I noticed that under 11-7’s “on-duty” disposition she was taking in all the sights and smells. Her tongue flicked out, but she would pull it back in soon after, like she was resisting the urge to smell the food. I chuckled to myself, it was cute and something I doubt anyone else would pick up on. I started to think about what I should get for us as I looked around at the other people in line. None of them seemed to pay us any mind. In fact, it seemed like people were trying to not look at us. I looked at 11-7 and saw her now focused on something. Tongue flicking out slowly and her eyes were squinted. I followed her gaze over to some guy in a Jacket and jeans. His hair was short, and he had a goatee. I don’t think he could've been older than 30. There was a younger looking woman next to him that was holding onto his arm. He was whispering something to her when I looked over. He must have been upset because he turned to face me and 11-7, and I guess seeing us both staring at him set him off. 

His voice sounded angry, but he wasn’t yelling. He spoke at a volume just above what my mom would call your inside voice. “Alright, if nobody else is gonna say somethin I’m gonna say somethin!” Most of the people in line turned their heads to look at the guy. He gestured at 11-7. “What is that thing doing here?”

Of course something like this had to happen the first time I take her out. She tensed up, and I remembered how she dealt with people in the past. She doesn’t have any people skills, and would probably end up hitting this guy with the butt of her rifle if he pushed her enough. Which would reflect badly on me. It was a difficult decision, I didn’t usually like to get involved in conflict like this, but I came here today mostly for her, so I should at least try to back her up, right? I decided to take the initiative and attempt to de-escalate the situation before she damaged my reputation, or her’s. 

I took a half step forward and put my shoulder in front of her, so she would understand what I was doing. I glanced at her, her eyes widened slightly at my move. She didn’t say anything, just refocused on the guy and furrowed her brow, voicing her annoyance with a snort. I guess that meant she was letting me take the lead. I returned my attention to the guy. “What do you mean? I didn’t see a sign out front that she couldn’t come in.”

The guy gestured to her plasma rifle. “I mean that it’s a soldier. You know, most people come in here to get away from having a gun waved in their face at all hours of the day. Most of the damn things I see walking on my way to work could kill me without a gun.” I heard some murmurs of approval coming from other people in line. 

I wasn’t sure what this guy was going to start spouting off, but that was surprisingly reasonable. I raised my hands up nonthreateningly. “And you know what, that’s fair. I’m not unsympathetic to that, but she’s my bodyguard. I need to have her around for my safety.”

The guy furrowed his brow and looked me over. Probably trying to figure out who I was. “Yeah, uh huh. - Who are you?”

If this ended up going south I didn’t want it to reflect badly on me, you never know who is recording these things. So, I decided to not indulge him. “It doesn’t matter who I am. She’s not gonna bother you unless you’re a threat to me or others.”

He gestured to her. “She is already bothering me, by being a heavily armed giant snake. I don’t think I could sit in the same room with it without feeling uncomfortable.” 

After he said that the woman holding his arm tugged on it, and I heard her quietly say “Please stop, we’ll get in trouble.”

The guy looked at her and whispered. “I know, but this isn’t just about us.” He looked back at me with renewed fervor. “And, I’m willin to bet everyone here would agree with me!” Again I heard some murmurs of approval, although there were less than the first time. 

I couldn’t believe I was about to do this, but I was not about to be forced out of the theater. I didn’t care how this guy, or anyone else, felt. This night was about 11-7, not them. “Listen buddy, are you really saying that you have a problem with a servant of Advent? Because If you are that sounds kinda Anti-Advent.” I crossed my arms. “Should I notify them that you will be putting in a formal complaint about the presence of their personnel?” I said that with as much venom as I could muster. Ugh, I felt so dirty pulling the Advent card, especially after it has been used on me so many times. We weren’t allowed to discuss, or question Advent, and it was the easiest way to shut down any discussion. You were either Pro-Advent or Anti-Advent, there was no inb etween, and I was playing right into their hands by using it. Honestly, it made me no better than my manager. 

As soon as I said that the murmurs disappeared and any support this guy had died. He looked down at the ground, and all that fervor was replaced with panic. “I - uhh, No! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. - I - I’ve always supported Advent, I don’t have any anti-Advent sentiment. I even have some friends that are Advent.” He looked back up at me, and spoke a little quieter. “I was only askin if she really had to be here.” 

I cleared my throat. “Well, she does _need_ to be here. So, let's just agree to disagree, and be done with it.”

I heard the guy mumble “Okay.” He still seemed upset, but as long as he kept it to himself I didn’t care what he thought. He stayed in line for a little bit longer, but after some whispers between him and his girl they walked off down the hall to their movie without snacks. Soon after that we were at the counter to get the snacks. I didn’t really have much time to think about what to get, so I just got a hotdog, popcorn, and two sodas. 

As we were walking down the hallway I felt 11-7 poke me, so I handed her the hotdog. I heard her suck it down enthusiastically, and then she spoke. “You handled that well.”

I just responded with ”Huh?” I wasn’t really paying attention and was focused on the signs above the theater rooms. 

“When the angry man was yelling at you, you did a good job. Not using violence is admirable, it is more difficult, but striking him would have been more efficient.”

She knows how to maintain a professional image, but not a positive one. Strange, I wonder if Advent trained her at all on interacting with humans. “Thanks, I guess.” I suddenly got the idea to use this as a learning opportunity. “You should keep in mind people’s opinions of you, and the consequences that those opinions can have. Think about the impression you would have made on the bystanders if you did that, and how what those people would have seen could change the opinions of people who didn’t even see it in person.”

I glanced back at her, and she shrugged. “Even if I attempted to quell the man as you did, the result would have been the same: him shutting up and leaving. I do not care for what they think, it is not my duty to appear a certain way.”

She really just doesn’t care what anyone thinks. I stopped and turned to look at her, no one was in the hallway which probably explained why she was talking to me. “Surely you serve them, just as much as you serve Advent?”

She squinted her eyes and looked away for a few moments. She adjusted her grip on her rifle and started to speak, but she sounded uncertain. “ - That man is right, I am a soldier. Personnel similar to the peacekeepers serve the Advent and the public good, but I serve - you and Advent.”

Interesting, I doubt she’s had any training from Advent on human interaction then, maybe I should ask her about it later. “Oh, I see. - Uh, this is a weird discussion to have at the theater, let's keep moving before the movie starts.” 

She turned back to me. I still saw some uncertainty in her reptilian eyes, but she nodded in agreement. 

I found the right room easy enough and we walked in, the ads were still playing. The room itself is what you would expect. Large with high ceilings and a big screen for the projector to project the movie onto. The seating was black pleather cushioned stadium seats complete with retractable armrests that had cup holders. There weren’t too many people in here, but once 11-7 came in they started looking our way. I whispered to her. “So, where do you want to sit?”

She slithered past me and up the stairs, luckily they were large enough that she didn’t have any trouble moving up them. I followed her up to a spot in the corner, far away from everyone else. She sat down on a chair. Using her body, she sequentially lifted armrests, lowered seats, and ended up draping her body across 5 seats. There was a man and a woman sitting near the spot she picked. They promptly got up and moved away from her once she got comfortable. She didn’t seem to notice and started patting the open seat next to her. 

I walked up and sat down on that seat, and handed her a soda. “Why’d you pick this spot? You can see the movie better if we sit more towards the middle.”

She stopped stucking in her soda. “Strategic advantage. If someone is looking for us, they will have to walk out of that entrance alley to see us.”

I chuckled. “I suppose it's a good thing one of us is paying attention, besides this location is a little more - _private_ than anywhere else in the theater.”

She nodded. “Yes, I can speak freely here, no one is likely to hear.” Again perhaps missing what I meant. She looked at my bag of popcorn and flicked her tongue out a few times. “This popcorn, is it any good?”

I nodded. “Well, I like it, but you can’t chew, so I’m not sure...”

Before I could finish she grabbed a sizable handful and put it in her mouth. I heard the popcorn crackle as she shut her jaws, but then she started coughing and a bunch of it flew out of her mouth and stuck to the back of the har in front of us. 

I don’t know how to do the heimlich maneuver, so I pointed at her soda. “Take a drink to wash it down.”

Her eyes darted to her cup, and she tore the lid off and drank half of it. 

I smiled and shook my head. “Jeez, you can’t just hork down everything.” She held up a finger to signify she needed a minute. 

She took a few deep breaths and looked at me. “I understand that now. I will eat it slower.” She glanced at the chair and chuckled as she wiped off her saliva and popcorn off of it with a swipe of her tail. 

“Are you ok?”

She nodded. “I am fine.” She grabbed a smaller handful and took her time eating it. After she swallowed, she asked a question. “It tastes of salt and butter. Is that all it is?”

“Yeah, why do you not like it?”

She shook her head. “It is not my favorite, but is still good. - You do not have to worry about me eating all of it.” She smiled after saying that.

I chuckled. “That’s fine with me. - You’re not hungry are you? We could go get more hotdogs.”

She laid her rifle on one of the chairs her body was occupying. “It is not your duty to feed me Lucas, that hotdog was much overpriced. I’ll not be having you go bankrupt in an attempt to make me full.”

“It’s fine I can...”

She put her hand in my face. “Ahhe! You specified we were here to have fun, not to have dinner.” I can’t believe she pulled that on me now. 

I backed off with my insistence. “Alright, if you say so. It’s just I never thought I’d see the day you’d so adamantly refuse free food.”

She wagged her finger at me. “Free for me, but not for you.”

The previews started and ended our discussion. While we watched some of them my mind went back to the guy I argued with, not to anything broad, I just remembered that he called her a snake. That reminded me of, well me. The first time I met her I called her a snake, Ron calls her a snake all the time, I’ve seen other people call her a snake, and sometimes I do it as a joke. I wonder if it really bothers her, maybe I should ask.

“Hey, are you bothered by how much people call you a snake?” She snapped her head in my direction and cocked her head, but did not say anything. “That guy by the concession stand called you a snake, just thought about it now.”

She snorted and slouched her neck a little. “What do you think?” She continued before I could answer, and gestured to the air as spoke. “It annoys me, I am aware of some of your species - mythology. I know that being called a snake is an insult, and that snakes in general are not favored much by your society.” 

“Yeah, I could see how that would be annoying. I’m sorry for, uh calling you a snake, I think I’ve done it to tease you before.” 

“Tease, - what is a tease?”

“It’s when you say or do something to provoke a reaction from someone, playfully. You know, not like maliciously.”

She thought for a few moments. “I have done that to you before, but I did not understand that insults could be - teasing. I accept your apology, but now I must apologize.”

I chuckled. “For what?” 

She looked away from me and played with her hands. “When I called you names I meant it because I thought you meant your words.”

I waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t sweat it, I’ve been called worse things than a smelly ape.”

She nodded. “That is good, - not good that you have been insulted worse. Good that you - have accepted my apology.”

I chuckled. “It’s cool, I know what you meant.” I took a sip from my soda. “You know, snakes aren’t seen exclusively in a bad light, I think medical symbols had snakes on them.”

She swallowed some popcorn she was munching on. “That is one of the exceptions I found, and some of your more ancient cultures saw them in a positive light, don’t mistake me for a historian. But, your modern cultures do not see them that way. The term snake means to be - untrustworthy, - vicious, - evil.” she took her time listing those adjectives, and she sighed after she was finished. “You do not need to make it seem more pleasant than it is, I know how humans view snakes. It doesn’t matter that I am not one to them.” She didn’t seem sad as she said that, her voice had an edge to it, like she was annoyed that that’s how things were. 

“Hey now, don’t you get mopey on me, none of those things describe you at all.” I blurted out without thinking for a second. 

What I said caught her attention. She squinted her eyes and flicked her tongue out slowly. “What do you mean?”

“I know I’ve said this before, but I think you’re trustworthy. You may be a little aggressive, but you’re not vicious. And evil doesn’t describe you at all. You’ve been good to me - despite how I acted initially, and that’s more than I can say for most people.”

She made an expression I’d never seen before and froze. I don’t think she’s ever received a compliment in her life, and I may have short circuited her. She shook her head quickly and looked at me with interest. “So many words, do you mean them?”

“Of course I do.” Finally, maybe she was starting to take the hint. Now, to go in for the kill. “You should try looking at it a different way. I actually kinda like snakes, I think they look cool.” I said as nonchalantly as I could.

She chuckled loudly, almost like she was trying to force it. “Ah yes, flattery. - You are attempting to be friendly.” Her eyes darted about the room for a few moments then she returned her attention to me. I saw something in her eyes, but I couldn’t put it into words, desperation maybe. “Cool, yes I know that, fashionable, hip. - Are you attempting to compare me in a polite way that means you - think - I am cool looking?” 

That was a lot to process. “Uh, yeah, - I think.”

“What about me do you find cool?”

Oh shit, she was putting me on the spot. I didn’t exactly have anything poetic prepared, but I had to say something, so she didn’t think I was lying. Maybe I should have thought of this stuff beforehand. “Well, uh - I uh, Like your pattern.”

She turned her head and observed the pattern on her tail. “My pattern?”

“Yeah, your body. Em- I mean, I like the colors on it. Orange and yellow go so well together, and the diamond shapes look nice.” God I’m so terrible at this, I barely have any skills hitting on regular girls at the bar, much less alien girls.

She looked confused. “It is the same pattern that every Viper has?”

“That’s true, but it looks good on you, you really pull it off. “ I should really move on from this. “I, uh, like your face too.” Why am I dissecting her anatomically with words, I should have just kept it simple and said she was beautiful.

That caught her interest. “My face, you like? It does not scare you?” She leaned her head forward and brought it closer to me. Her face was probably not much bigger than mine, but with her long neck and hood it made her head look huge. Her expression seemed more inquisitive now than anything, as she examined me.

“It doesn’t scare me.”

“What do you like about it?”

I clasped my hands together. “Well, uh- where to begin. It’s sleek, - shaped well...“ I had made my bed at this point, I was already talking about specific things, I couldn’t just say I liked her overall look now. I swallowed. I was running out of ideas. “You have a large hood.” I don’t know why I said that, I thought it would be something she’d like to hear but I have no clue.

She raised an eyebrow. “My hood? I didn’t know humans cared for such things?”

“It’s very shapely, and uhh...”

As I was scanning her face for something I could talk about I realized I was skipping over the most obvious thing, her eyes. We made eye contact with each other. The color was always so striking, I loved that shade of red, and those sharp pupils, like obsidian daggers bisecting pools of blood. I may have been staring too long, because I saw she was starting to get confused. But, I had my inspiration now. “Your eyes are...”

Just as I was about to redeem myself, the lights started to dim. Instantly 11-7’s disposition changed. She stood up, slithered in front of me and started pointing her rifle around the room wildly. Luckily, she didn’t start yelling, that would have drawn a lot of attention. 

I whispered to her. “Calm down, It’s ok 11-7. The lights dimming means the movie is starting.”

She turned her head to look at me. “You’re certain this is normal?” She seemed very serious and on edge.

“Yeah, - it makes it easier to see the movie being projected.” 

She paused, and looked around the room once more. “I - understand.” She relaxed and sat back down.

She slouched in her chair and sighed. I patted her on the shoulder. “It’s alright, not that big of a deal. I don’t think anyone even noticed.”

She shook her head and snorted. “I mock you in the past for being so jumpy, and I prepared to vaporize someone because the lights darkened.” She crossed her arms and sunk into her seat. “You may laugh if you want, I would not argue if you did.”

“You must think I’m an idiot. The last thing I’d want to do is make fun of you for trying to protect me.”

She smiled. “Yes, I forget sometimes you are not an idiot.” She chuckled after that and sat up in her chair. “You are showing me excessive kindness today.”

I smirked and leaned back in my chair. “What can I say, guess I’m feeling generous.” 

“I hope you keep feeling - generous. I like it.”

We both got comfortable and immersed ourselves in the movie. I didn’t remember ET too well, since I had seen it years ago, but it started the same as I remembered, well the plot was the same anyway. It was a remake, so it had different actors, and was in a different setting. There was a first person view of the alien running away from the FBI and into a shed. Boys playing DnD at a party, and the younger brother goes outside to get something from the shed. The part where I got confused was when it showed the alien in the shed, it wasn’t the brown scrotum alien I remembered, but instead it was one of those small grey pre-invasion sectoids, the ones with the bulbous heads. Why would they change it like that? I guess it was an improvement, the original alien was fugly anyway. They’re always doing that in remakes, changing little details. Makes you even wonder why they bother telling the same story again. 

Whatever the case, while the movie kept playing I tried to get closer to 11-7. Partway through I tried to hold her hand. We had both been enjoying it so far and it was at one of the scenes where the boy and his sister were trying to hide the alien from their mom. I had let her take the armrest in preparation for this. 

I gently sat my arm on top of hers and tried to get my hand under hers, but the moment our arms touched, her head jerked in my direction and I lost some of my nerve. So now my arm was just laying on top of hers. “Did you want to use the armrest?” She looked confused as to what the hell I was doing. 

“I, uh. - We could share it.”

She eyed me suspiciously. “Okay.” She made no attempt to move my arm off of her arm, so I guess I kinda succeeded. I expected that to be it, but then she spoke again. “Your arm is - warm...” She sounded like she was gonna say something else, but trailed off. 

I wasn’t sure what she meant by that. “Oh, sorry. I can move it if you want.”

She looked at me with a serious expression and blurted out “No.” Then she relaxed and chuckled, like she was trying to play it off as a joke. “I - appreciate - warm things.” 

This was getting a little weird, but in a good way. “It’s a good thing I’m warm then, heh.”

She nodded. “It is.” Then she returned her attention to the movie. Unfortunately I couldn't try to lace my fingers with hers because her forearm was much longer than mine. All well, it was a start. 

The movie kept playing, I think we were halfway through it, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

I hated to have to lift up my arm, but I did. “Hey, I gotta take a piss.” I had sucked down my soda shortly after the previews ended, and now I was paying the price. “Do you want to escort me?”

11-7 cocked her head. “Pei - sss. What is that, and why are you taking it?”

“It meant I have to go to the bathroom.”

She nodded. “I understand. Yes, I should escort.”

We left the theater room and went to the nearest bathroom. I went in and did my business. As I was washing my hands another person came into the bathroom. He was wearing a grey hoodie, and some jeans. He had the hood pulled up so I couldn’t see his face. As I went to leave the bathroom, he bumped into me quite hard. I spun around to tell him to watch where he was going, but he darted into a stall. Guess I couldn’t blame him, if he had to go that bad. I let it slide and we went back to the theater room. 

I set my arm back on top of hers while we watched the movie. There wasn’t much that happened as we watched the movie. She thought it was funny when the sectoid drank some beer, and remembered what drunk was, in her words. The part where the sectoid was dying made her sad, but there was a happy ending, where the Elders made an appearance and took the sectoid home. All in all, it wasn’t a bad movie, and I had a great time, 11-7 seemed to enjoy it too. I had thought about making more moves while the movie was playing, but I didn’t want to push things too hard. I mean, touching her arm got a strong reaction, I don’t want to scare her off. 

As we were leaving the room, I noticed something strange. Once the credits started rolling I saw the words “Based on a True Story” appear on screen. I thought about mentioning it to 11-7, but there were too many people around as we left, so I kept it to myself, but that was just a blatant lie. Is it possible something like that happened, maybe, but why call it ET, in reference to the original movie then? Whatever, it was just another movie with some pro-Advent themes, nothing to get up in arms about, but sometimes they lay it on just a little too thick. 

We climbed into the car with Ron. 11-7 and I gleefully discussed the movie the whole ride home. Ron didn’t seem interested in joining the discussion. I didn’t bug him about it since it was getting late now, and he was probably tired, I know I was. We made it home, I said goodbye and goodnight to Ron, and we went inside. 

As I walked into the kitchen I was laughing and still chatting with 11-7. I reached into my pocket to grab the ticket from the movie to throw it away, but I felt something else. Something - glossy? I pulled it out and looked at it. What I saw made me feel lightheaded, I almost didn’t believe what I was holding was real. I blinked my eyes a few times, but It was still in my hand. I slowly walked over to the couch and sat down, staring at the photo the whole time. 

It was an innocent enough photo. There were two boys that were in overalls outdoors next to an oak tree. One was sitting on a tire swing attached to the tree, and the other was standing next to him. Both were wearing big toothy grins. I flipped the photo over and read the words “Swinging into summer 2016 Randy and Lucas.” written with a black permanent marker.

I heard 11-7 say something, and shook myself from my thoughts. “Lucas, what's wrong?” She snaked her head over by mine to see the photo I was looking at. “Why do those two boys look the same? - Is one of them you?”

I swallowed, not really looking at her. “Oh, that’s me and one of my brothers, - my twin brother, we’re - uh - Identical twins...”

“I didn’t know you had a twin brother, he wasn’t in your file. - Is he living on the farm?” She sounded interested.

I sighed. “No, he’s - dead, and according to Advent records, he doesn’t exist.”

She pulled her head back slightly and looked concerned. “Doesn’t exist? I - understand... How did he die?”

I had spent so many years trying to move on, and this night was going so well. I wasn’t going to lie to her about it anymore, there’d be no point now. I leaned forward on the couch and rested my elbows on my knees. I didn’t look at her, I just looked at the photo as I spoke. “You remember when I said that I lived in a two bedroom apartment by myself, and all those times I said I came to this city by myself.” I didn’t wait for her to respond. “I lied. When I came to this city, me and my brother moved up here together.” I chuckled. “You know it's funny, I was the one who convinced _him_ to come up here with me...”

I felt her sit down next to me on the couch, she sat right next to me, close enough that I felt her rub against the side of my body. “What happened?” She spoke so softly, so sweetly, I almost didn’t hear it. I don’t know why I continued, I guess she managed to tease it out of me.

“After we got processed into the Advent Civilian Labor pool, we were assigned jobs working in a small arms factory. We worked that job for months and months, but nothing ever came of it. It was clear we wouldn’t get anywhere if we worked there for our entire lives. We realized that this city wasn’t everything we’d hoped it would be, but we couldn’t leave. Partially because Advent made it difficult to leave once you were processed, but also because we’d have to crawl back to our parents and admit they were right.”

She spoke again in an undertone. “Too stubborn?” I felt something in those words, like maybe she understood, or had done something similar. 

“Yeah, everything they told us would happen, did happen.” I sighed. “But we were determined to prove them wrong, so we started to look for other _opportunities_ to move up in this city.”

“Opportunities? What are you meaning?” I think she moved closer and put her arm around me. I felt her touch, but didn’t acknowledge it. I was seeing everything play out again, like an old movie you couldn’t forget.

“Things that were not legal, - smuggling mostly. It’s not like we had much to lose at that point. We did a few jobs, always small things that would fit in your pocket, easy stuff. One day, the guy giving us jobs told my brother about a meeting that was happening, and that we were invited to go. We were already criminals, so we decided to go. When we got there I realized that we were getting in over our heads. It was a terrorist recruitment meeting.”

“What happened at the meeting?”

“I think they were called the Human Liberation Army, or something, I don’t remember exactly. But, their leader was there and he gave this big talk about the things Advent was doing and about the oppression of humanity. I didn’t trust anyone, much less some guy I didn’t know trying to convince me to fight a superior military force. I acted enthusiastic, so I wouldn't draw attention to myself, but my brother was entranced by what that guy said. While he was talking to people I started memorizing names, and I got the time and place for the next meeting.”

“I am starting to understand now.”

“When we got back home I wrote down everything I learned on a piece of paper, and pretended to be sick the next day. I was in a precarious situation. I knew I had two choices, I could either throw my lot in with the terrorists, or side with Advent. There was no inbetween, if the terrorists found out I wasn’t completely on board they would have killed me, just the same as Advent would have if they found out I was keeping info from them. I knew which was the better option, so while my brother was at work I tipped off Advent to the meeting.”

“You didn’t speak to him about it?”

“No... but sometimes I wish I did. I didn’t explain how much he ate up what that guy said, but for the first time in my life I wasn’t sure whether my brother would have my back or not. I was worried that if I showed him the list I made and explained my plan, he would have tried to kill me on the spot, or lied and tipped off the rebels. If he had just not gone to that meeting, I’m certain I could have convinced him that this is what was best for the both of us. But, he had already made up his mind, he went to that meeting. Advent killed him and everyone else that was there. The rest, you already know.” I let out a sigh of relief, and felt a slight satisfaction having finished my story.

She let go of me and gestured wildly as she spoke. “None of what you are saying was in your file. It mentioned that you infiltrated the rebel meeting, but was not specific. Why would Advent not tell me this?” She seemed agitated, and sounded like she didn’t believe me. 

I looked at her and shook my head. “Isn’t it obvious. They don’t want anyone to find out one of their VIP’s had a shady past, and it gave them more control over me since they wiped my record clean.” 

She frowned in response to what I said and I saw uncertainty in her slitted pupils.

I set the photo on my wooden coffee table. “I never blamed Advent for what happened that day, I was the one who made it happen after all. - And I’ve still never regretted that decision either, - it was the only one I could make. I just wish the outcome had been different...”

She looked the saddest I had ever seen her. Her hood was almost tucked in, and the features on her face had softened. “Lucas, I - I’m sorry.”

I sighed. “Don’t be, - it happened a long time ago.” 

I stood up and she stood up with me. I heard concern in her voice as she spoke. “Where are you going?”

I noticed that she had been wearing her armor this whole time. I guess she didn’t have time to change out of it yet. “I’m - going to bed.” 

I started walking away, but I was stopped in my tracks by something grabbing my arm. Her fingers were tightly wrapped around my wrist. I looked at her face, I saw determination in her sharp eyes. “Are - you - alright, Lucas.”

She may not have worded that eloquently, but she was giving me an out, trying to help, to get me to open up. Some part of me really wanted to believe that she could help, but people feed on that weakness and then use it against you. She was the first person or alien I had ever told that story to, and I already had told her way more than I was comfortable with. “I’m fine, I don’t even know why I told you all of that.” I ripped my arm from her grasp and walked into my room. She didn’t try to stop me.

I laid on my back sprawled out in bed and stared at the ceiling. Whatever that machine did was gone now, guess it wasn’t a permanent solution, seems like nothing ever is. I felt terrible again. This was all because of that damn photo, where the fuck did it come from? I had washed these pants not that long ago, and a photo would not have survived that. I sorted through the day’s events, eventually stopping on when that guy bumped into me in the bathroom. I thought back, and I might have felt him put his hand in my pocket, but I didn’t realize it at the time because I had nothing to steal... I am so fucked. Some of them must have gotten away and found out. They know me, they remember what I did. They want revenge for who died, - they want revenge for my brother. But, why didn’t that guy try to kill me? It doesn’t matter, they’re probably just toying with me before they do...

I curled up in the fetal position, and laid on my side. I hadn’t felt despair like this since the night before I decided to side with Advent. I didn’t know what to do, so I just closed my eyes and hoped that sleep would come.

-

But sleep did not come. All I saw was my brother's name below the picture from his ID scrolling across the tv screen while the news reporter listed the names of the terrorists that died during the Advent raid. I saw the guy in the bathroom planting the photo, and I saw my death at the hands of those rebels. I don’t know how long I laid there, but I opened my eyes and sat up in bed. Maybe I should get some water. 

I went out into the kitchen and saw a familiar viper on the couch. She had changed out of her armor and was wearing a white t-shirt. She looked tense, and nothing was playing on the tv. When she noticed my presence her eyes darted in my direction. She looked like she wanted to say something, but she didn’t. So I went and drank a glass of water, savoring the coolness as it coated my throat. As I walked back to the living room, I noticed 11-7 was coiled up in the hallway, blocking the path to my room.

We stared at each other for a bit, neither of us saying anything. The tip of her tail occasionally flicked in a random direction which caught my attention every time. Then I guess she decided what she was gonna say. “Lucas, I know something is wrong.” I saw that same determination in her eyes again.

I sighed, and waved a hand dismissively. “It’s my burden to bear, I don’t need anyone else. Just move out of the way, so I can try to sleep.”

She spoke at a normal volume, but there was a softness to her voice. “I see it written all over your face, I’ve seen it on you every morning. It’s not a good look, I won’t force you to share, but I am not your enemy Lucas.”

I shook my head. “Is this a part of what you think your duty is?” Maybe I didn’t mean that, but it had to be addressed.

She crossed her arms. “If I was doing my duty I would coil around you and restrained you until you were taken to a clinic.” She sounded angry, but softened her voice on the next sentence. “I - wish to help you.”

I think I believed her, some part of me did anyway. I told her what I realized about where the photo came from, and how fucked I was. 

She sounded determined. “We’ll tell Advent about it and fix this. They can look at security footage and track down that person...”

Her ignorance annoyed me, and I cut her off. “Don’t you get it? It’s not just one person, I was attacked by a group of them before you were hired. If they’ve held on to this grudge that long, they’ll never leave me alone.” I felt my blood boil as I ranted. “ I gave up everything that I possibly could, 11-7. My family, my hometown, my brother, my privacy, my freedom, everything I ever knew. And for what? A moderately comfortable life and some fame. And I think I was fine with that, but now I can’t even relax in my own fucking house. They were able to find me at the movie theater. If they could find me there, they could just as easily find me here, and they might even know my schedule. It’s just a matter of time before they get to me, and there’s nothing you or Advent can do about that...”

She looked sad, but didn’t say anything. I felt bad about yelling at her. “I’m not mad at you, and I’m not looking for your pity. I’ve just been so stressed lately, and now I can’t even sleep at all. And I’m just bombarded with these bad dreams every - single - night. It’s like I don’t feel...”

“Safe?” She offered.

I nodded. “Yeah - safe.” 

She looked away in thought for a few moments, and then leaned forward and put her hand on my shoulder. “Would it help if I - staying in your room, while you slept?”

That caught me off guard. “What?” This is what I wanted in a way, but not the right circumstances. I thought about it for a few moments and sighed. “It’s worth a try.”

She smiled and let go of my shoulder, moving aside, so I could pass. She followed me to the door of my room. When I looked back I saw she had her plasma rifle with her. I walked into my room and stood by my bed. She moved past me, bringing her 15 ft long body in. Using the tip of her tail to grab the door knob and shut the door. 

My room wasn’t small, but seeing her in here, all stretched out, put into perspective how large she really was. She coiled up on the ground next to my bed, and leaned her plasma rifle against the wall. I laid down on my bed and faced her. I could see her eyes well, they almost glowed in the dark. Guess she has night vision.

Neither of us said anything, we just stared at each other for a while. She decided to break that silence. I saw her smirk in the dim light. “You are not as talkative as the last time I was here.” I think she was trying to lighten the mood, but I wasn’t feeling it. 

“Yeah, I was drunk then. I kinda wish I was drunk now.” 

Her smile disappeared. “Would that help?” She sounded curious.

“Maybe in the short term.” I chuckled and turned away from her, laying on my other side. I didn’t really care what I told her anymore, I was fully committed at this point. What was she gonna do, tell Advent I was sad and lonely. If they didn’t already know that, they were terrible at their jobs. “It’s ironic...”

I heard her say “What?” quietly.

“- How I play all these strong characters in movies and tv shows, and here I am hiding in my room like a child. - I can’t protect myself from those terrorists, I can’t even bear to be alone right now...” 

I stopped talking because I heard movement, but she didn’t say anything, so I kept going. “I thought losing my brother was the only consequence of my decision, but my choices are finally catching up with me.”

My bed groaned, and I felt the weight of it shift towards where 11-7 was sitting. I tried to ignore it, but once I felt a four fingered hand caress my bicep I had to say - something. “What are you doing?” 

She sounded surprised. “I am comforting you, making you feel - safe. - Do you want me to stop?” The way she spoke made it seem like she didn’t really know what she was doing.

I thought about it. God, it had been a long time since anyone had even hugged me. Whatever she was going to do I wanted it. “No.”

My heart skipped a beat as I felt her lithe body press into mine from behind. She wrapped her long arms around me, minding her claws as she pulled me close. My head rested comfortably against her long neck, in the crevice of her hood. I felt a little embarrassed as her sizable venom glands squished against my back. She was warmer than I imagined, guess she really wasn’t completely cold blooded. Her head laid on my pillow, slightly above mine, and I felt her jaw rest on the top of my head. 

I had some nightmares of this exact scenario, but I wasn’t scared now. Hell, this was a dream come true, it felt good to be held. But, I couldn’t understand why she cared enough to do this for me. “Why are you doing this?”

I heard her chortle above me, and felt her mouth ruffle my hair as she spoke. “You comforted me before for no reason. Do I need one?”

“No, I guess not.” I chuckled. 

She curled her tail around my legs, starting at my waist and working her way down to my feet. Her scales were smooth and soft, each one like a thin piece of warm flexible glass. When she reached my feet she coiled the tip of her tail around one of my ankles and gave it a squeeze before loosening up. She held tightly to me, but not so tight that I couldn’t move around somewhat. I felt the strength her body contained, the muscle under the thin layer of surface fat, as her tail rubbed against my bare legs. She probably could break every bone in my body if she was so inclined, but here she was wrapping me up so gently and holding me in her arms. She was embracing me completely with her whole body. I never knew I even wanted this, but it has been so long... Did I deserve this? My eyes started to water, this was probably the closest I had come to crying in a long time, but I didn’t want to ruin the moment, so I blinked it away. 

11-7 hummed a quiet tune and gently rubbed her head against mine. “Are you comfortable?” She asked, still humming.

I wanted to tell her so much right now, words fail me. “Definitely.” Was all I could spit out.

Some air escaped her nose. “- Your body is even warmer than your arm, more than I assumed...” She moved her whole body and softly rubbed against me a little.

“I, uh - was thinking the same thing about you earlier actually.” 

She chuckled and stopped humming. “So, we are both warm then, good. You’re no heat pad, but with the blanket neither of us will be cold tonight.”

“Could you keep doing that thing.”

“What thing?”

“The - humming thing.”

“Hmm, you like it?” She started humming a different tune.

“Yeah, is that a song you know?”

“Not a human one, one of my sisters taught me how to do it.”

“Oh, it sounds nice.”

“I am happy you enjoy it too.” She didn’t speak for a while and we laid together like this. Bodies intertwined, sharing in each other's warmth. Her body occasionally moving to adjust her position, and rubbing against mine. “Do you feel comforted now?”

More than she could possibly know. “I do.”

“Good, do yourself a favor and get some sleep. I’ll worry about the rebels for you tonight.”

My eyes drifted shut and I said, “Thank you.” 

Maybe the solution to my problems was right in front of me this whole time. It was the safest I had ever felt in my life. I wanted to turn around and kiss her maybe, or do something to show her how much this meant to me, but I wasn’t sure what this was. That would be a question for tomorrow. I didn’t know what the future had in store for me, but maybe I wasn’t alone anymore, and at least for this one night I could allow myself to let go of my worries completely. After a short time, sleep finally came to me. 


	11. Chapter 11

The ringing of my alarm woke me up. I turned around to face 11-7, only to find she wasn’t there. I shot up in bed, looking around my room. I didn’t see her. I turned off my alarm and rubbed my head. My door was closed and none of my clothes on the floor looked disturbed. Was that really all a dream? No, it couldn’t have been. It was too - nice? But I wasn’t going to find out sitting in my room. I threw on some pants and walked out to the living room.

11-7 was sitting on the couch playing a video game. She was wearing a white t-shirt, like I remembered from last night. I stood there trying to think of something to say. I must have been staring because she paused her game. “Good morning Lucas.” She seemed cheerful.

“Yeah, - uh good morning.” I kept thinking about how to word what I wanted to say, but like usual I was blunt. “Did that happen last night?”

She adjusted her position on the couch and started fidgeting with her hands. “If you are referring to the comforting I performed... Yes _that_ did happen.” 

“So that wasn’t a dream. Thank god, I thought I was really losing it there for a minute.”

She chuckled. “You are in a somewhat unstable condition, but not enough to hallucinate events.” I suppose that was reassuring.

“You’re probably right.” Another pressing question came to mind. “Did uh... Did last night - mean anything to you?”

She looked at me and cocked her head. “You mean the definition of last night. The night that just happened?”

I put my hand on my face and rubbed my forehead. “No, I... how do I explain this?” I took a few moments to think it out. “Ok, what you did last night I don’t understand why, did you feel something when you did it? If that makes sense.”

“I do not know.” She became silent and focused. Taking her time to respond. “I - knew you were troubled by something, and I wanted to help in a way I believed you would appreciate. Feel - I don’t understand, I was happy to do it. 

I chuckled. “Well, you were right. How’d you figure that out?”

She looked away. “I shouldn’t tell, you will think it stupid.”

I crossed my arms. “Come on, it can’t be that stupid.” 

She hesitantly pointed at the tv. “One of the shows I watched on the television. There was a scene where a woman comforted a man by - cud-del-ing... Both of them enjoyed it, so I attempted it.”

“That’s - not surprising.” I paused and looked away from her. “Look, I don’t really say stuff like this often, but I really needed that last night.” I looked her dead in the eye and tried to sound as genuine as I could. “I don’t think I can properly express how grateful I am, but thank you 11-7. I don’t think you realize how much that meant to me.” 

Her gaze softened and her hood tightened up. “I... you.” She looked away and coiled her body in tight. “It did not require much effort to perform. I was just helping you...” She spoke quietly and trailed off.

“Shit, I don’t care how easy it was. Do you know how long it’s been since anyone’s shown me compassion like that, - since anyone’s actually cared about me? Too long...” 

She started hissing quietly and continued fidgeting with her hands. “If you enjoyed it so immensely, I would do it again...” 

Now was my turn to be surprised. “Do you mean that?”

What I said breathed a little life into her, and she continued. “Yes, but it would have to be in my room from now on. Your bed is too small, I could not fit on it properly, and I was worried I was going to break it last night.” 

I had to take a step back, I was getting the impression she didn’t know what that meant. “-How much do you know about human relationships?” 

She must have picked up on my seriousness because she seemed unsure again. “I understand some, the - majority comes from what I’ve read and seen from your media.”

“Well, uh. Friends don’t usually sleep in the same bed, or at all for the most part. Especially the cuddling, that’s more of an - intimate thing.”

Her hood stretched out and her eyes widened. “Another taboo, I did not know. I apologize if I made you uncomfortable.” 

I shook my hands in front of me. “Oh, don’t be sorry. I liked it... I - I don’t know how to explain this to you, but do you want to be more than friends?”

She tapped her chin with a clawed finger, mumbled to herself. “More - friend, extra. Better friendship?” She was silent for a few moments. “Yes, I believe so.” 

I still wasn’t sure if she really understood, but I didn’t have the brain power to explain to her the complexity of human relationships right now after I just woke up. If she was fine with what was happening then so was I. I smirked. “That quick, huh. You must have liked the cuddling too, then.”

She blinked and looked away, tapping her claws together in no particular pattern. “I... Whether I liked it or not does not matter. We already have an agreement.”

“Oh, we do? Should I draft up a contract for us to sign?”

She cocked her head for a moment, and then sighed. “If you must.”

I chuckled. “Just joking, but if you liked it so much why did you leave early.”

She started to speak but stopped for a moment. “I hear your verbal trickery. Do not think yourself clever. I left early to take care of your Advent report for you. I spoke with your manager about what happened.”

She’s the gift that keeps on giving. “Ain’t you a sweetheart. I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone take care of my paperwork before.”

“Sweet - heart...” She repeated the word back to me slowly. “You are thanking me?”

“Uh yeah, I am. Sweetheart means you’re being nice.”

She nodded. “I understand. They took that photo of you and your brother for analysis. I didn’t know if you wanted to allow it...”

Strangely enough I felt an ache upon hearing that photo was gone now. I didn’t have many photos of my family. “It’s fine, it’s probably better this way. That photo has bad memories attached to it.”

She tried to change the subject. “I attempted to secure you more - vacation time due to the recent incident. But your manager said that you are already scheduled for something on Monday that cannot be changed.”

“Thanks for trying. It was a miracle I managed to get these two weeks off. Aw well, I had a nice life. It’s unfortunate that it has to end so soon, but sometimes these things are out of our control.”

She looked concerned. “You sound certain of your death. You do not need to be afraid I will keep you safe.”

“I wasn’t being serious (mostly), but yeah this is not good.”

“You’ll be transported in an armed convoy to another city. It will be...”

“Ahe! I don’t want to hear about it. I’ll talk to Manny later for the details. I’ve still got a weekend to enjoy, and I am not leaving the neighborhood until I have to.”

“I understand. Staying here is the safest option.” She looked around the room. “If we are staying here then, is there anything we can do for entertainment besides what you have already shown me?”

“Oh, um. Let me think.” As I was thinking my eyes drifted above her head, and I saw the sun high in the sky outside my window. I suddenly got an unorthodox idea. “I have an idea, but first I gotta ask: do you like pools?”

“You have a pool?”

“I do, it’s in my shed.”

“Swimming is an enjoyable activity, but I do not believe you have a pool.”

“Prepare to be surprised.” I got up, walked over to the sliding glass door, and slid it open. I immediately felt the warm glow of the sun on my skin, and heard birds chirping. I stepped out onto my deck and surveyed my backyard. I was never out here that much, so the grass was overgrown. It was surrounded by a tall privacy fence and had two features, my shed, and the stone firepit I used occasionally. I walked off my deck and to my shed. As I opened it I was hit with a musty smell, and there in the corner I saw it. A balled up pile of blue rubber and a cheap green bike pump. I grabbed both of them and left my shed.

11-7 was observing me with a confused expression, and she didn’t get any less confused when I threw my inflatable pool and bike pump on the ground in front of her. 

I gestured to them. “Here it is.”

She pointed down at it with a claw, keeping her other hand on her hip. “That is your pool? It is not big enough.”

“It’s inflatable, so it’s bigger than this. I’ve been trying to save up for something better, like a hot tub.” I walked forward and spread it out on the ground. It was large enough to fit both of us, but only just barely. Perfect. 

I found the air port and plugged the bike pump into it and started pumping. She watched my movements closely as I worked.

“You seem better today, more than yesterday.” 

I chuckled. “Yeah, well you certainly had a hand in that.” 

She slithered into view and asked me an unexpected question. “Do not become agitated, but what was your brother - like? I am interested.” 

“You’re interested in my brother?” That was a strange question to ask, but maybe she just wanted to know more about him. “Uh, I guess I don’t mind talking about _him_. I just don’t like to be reminded of what happened...” I got a few more pumps in before speaking again. “- He was a lot like me. Actually, I guess you’d say we were a lot like each other.”

“Were you exactly the same?”

I shook my head, and kept pumping as I spoke. “No, he was a lot less meticulous than me. When we were kids I was more strategic minded and he was always charging in headfirst. Course he always told me if I sat on my ass all day thinking about doing something, I’d never do it. Sometimes he was right. We, uh leveled each other out by working together and us being twins helped with that. But as we became older he got more stubborn and set in his ways. If he didn’t like my plan he wouldn’t follow it and he wouldn’t compromise. He was always the one doing things, and I was always the support. I guess that meant he was more courageous than me... But we always had each other’s back, and that was what was important.”

I looked down and saw I had inflated the pool fully. “Oh, nice. It’s full now.” It was one of those rectangular ones. The sides were clear and had fish decals going all the way around the pool. I got this one because I thought it was funnier than the one that didn’t have fish on it. 

As I plugged the air port 11-7 made a comment. “I understand. I feel similar for my sisters.”

I walked over to the green garden hose mounted on the side of my house and started unwinding it. “Your sisters? I’ve heard you say that a lot, how does that even work?”

I turned on the water and began rinsing out the pool as she answered. She crossed her arms and gestured to the air as she spoke. “We are like clones, genetically tailored in accordance with the elders’ wishes. Our DNA is designed to produce the strongest and smartest specimens possible of our species, and it is maintained so as to not produce any defects.” She looked down at me, her confident sharp eyes accompanied with an aura of cockiness.

I continued to rinse out the pool. “That’s cool and all, but I’m not sure how much I’d want someone else to have control over my genome. Though the - results of that control are hard to ignore. - So, you’re all like grown in a test tube? I had heard something like that before from some of my friends, but I guess that means you don’t have any parents.”

I saw a hint of sadness to her eyes, but it was gone in an instant. “The elders are my equivalent to your - parents. Fledgling vipers do not require constant supervision like human children, and we mature much faster.”

That didn’t surprise me. Having the elders as parents, - must be one hell of a family reunion. “I see, do the elders - talk to you much?” 

She was about to say something, but stopped herself. “- No... they don’t. They do not possess enough time to speak to underlings like me on an individual basis. Their work is too important.” She wasn’t looking at me as she said that, she was looking past me. 

I tried to cheer her up. “Shit. Em, well you can always talk to me.”

Her eyes focused on me and she smiled. “Yes, I can - can’t I.”

I tipped the pool over and let the dirty water flow out. Now would be a good time to change the subject. “Soo, - are you all female? I have yet to meet a viper that looked - uh - not female?”

She sighed, slumping her head forward, and seemed annoyed by that question. “Yes, we are all female. We are not allowed to reproduce normally, as your kind would. That would introduce unsupervised discrepancies into our genome, which over time could affect our functionality. So, we are all of one sex, which makes that impossible.”

I sprayed some of the dirt off the top edge of the pool, and thought about that old movie _Jurassic park_. Life finds a way and all that, but then again they probably didn’t have any frog DNA mixed in with theirs. Instead I asked a more appropriate question. “If that’s the case, why are you all female? Wouldn’t making all vipers male instead do the same thing?”

She looked at me like I was stupid, but quickly wiped it from her face. “I apologize, it is a good question to ask. I understand why you would be confused because the males of your species are physically superior to the females. For my species it is the opposite. The females are naturally stronger and larger than the males. - I have never seen a male of my species, but that is what I was taught.”

I tossed the hose into the pool to let it fill up. “Yeah, that makes sense. Larger and stronger soldiers tend to be better... Hey can you watch the pool and make sure it doesn’t overflow. I’m going to change into my swim trunks.” 

“Yes, I saw the control valve.” She pointed over to the spout the hose was connected to.

I ran inside and changed into my black swim trunks and walked back outside. I saw 11-7 soaking in the pool, and she waved at me. The midday sun reflected off of the water and her glistening scales. She was still wearing that same plain white t-shirt surprising, guess she didn’t have any swimwear. The tip of her tail was laying on top of the side of the pool. The pool wasn’t that deep, but it was enough for her to submerge herself completely. I could see her orange and yellow body through the sides of the pool.

As I walked up to the end of the pool opposite to her, I started to get that same feeling from before when I climbed into the bathtub with her. My instincts telling me I was “flirting” with something dangerous. I hesitated for a moment, but not because I wanted to. She slapped her tail in the pool, splashing some water on me and catching my attention. She giggled and gestured to the open pool. 

Pushing those instincts aside, I climbed in and slowly sat down. The cool water enveloping my lower body as I leaned back against part of her tail and the side of the pool. I put my hands behind my head and let out a contented sigh. “Comfortable?” I heard my serpentine pool mate ask in a condescending way.

I leaned up and gently slapped the part of her body that was above the water. “Yeah actually. Anyone ever tell you that you are comfortable to sit on?”

She shook her head and smiled. “No, you are the first, but I have confirmation. I sit on - myself when furniture is not available.” Her eyes darted to my phone, which was still strapped to my arm. She pointed at it. “Should you bring that here?”

I rotated my arm around and poked my phone as I spoke. “Not to worry, this baby is completely waterproof. Besides, I should always have it on me, you never know when I’ll receive an important message.” 

“If you must have it out here, so be it.” 

As she was talking I realized the bottom of her shirt was wet and sticking to her body, outlining her lean abdominal muscles and humanlike snake hips. My eyes drifted upwards to her breasts, which were under their dry part of her shirt. It was pulled taught, but not enough to see more than I usually did. My eyes drifted up to her face, and she was looking right at me with a scrutinizing expression. She was squinting and her bifurcated tongue lingered in the air for longer as she flicked it out. “You are always staring... Is this a normal human behavior I am not aware of?” She cocked her head slightly after saying that.

My face felt warm, and it wasn’t just from the sun. She had finally called me out on it, and I did not have a clue what to say for myself. “Um, yeah. Sorry about that. - I like to look at things - I guess.”

She tilted her chin up and scratched it with one of her claws. “Hmmm. You like to look at _thingsss_ . - Insightful.” She got the same cheeky look in her eye from when we were in the tub together. “Should I give you a better view? - Since you clearly favor staring at certain _things_ over others.”

I tried to feign ignorance. “Are you accusing me of something?”

She chortled. “Don’t play coy. My venom glands command your attention at times, and you do not make enough effort to hide that. I am surprised that you did not mention them when we were at the theater.”

I was not letting her tease me again. This time I was determined to turn the tables on her. “Yeah, well you’re right, I do like staring at them.” 

She raised her scaly brows as I said that. “An, admission?” After saying that she went back to analyzing me. “Why?” 

“Maybe I just want to see you do it. Go ahead, take off your shirt.” I could tell from her expression that she did not believe me. 

Her hands immediately shot down to the bottom of her shirt. She observed me closely, but I didn’t even flinch. I saw a hint of surprise in her eyes, and she hesitated to continue. We looked at each other for a few moments longer before she realized she’d be backing down if she stopped. She was obligated to finish what she started now that I challenged her, and she falsely called my bluff. In one smooth motion she pulled her shirt off and flung it into the wet grass.

As soon as her head was uncovered, she scanned my face with her crimson reptilian eyes, and I took in her now naked form. It was familiar in some places and alien in others. Those soft cream colored scaled plates that ran up her underbelly split into three directions at her chest. Two paths of scale plates made up the surface of her left and right breasts, and the one in the middle ran up past her sternum to her neck. The scaled plates on her breasts wrapped around them, and faded into her regular orange scales at her shoulders. There were some features I immediately noticed, or rather a lack thereof. She had no nipples, the surface of her sizeable venom glands were completely bare. I also noted that she had no belly button, which I really should have noticed sooner but the lack of nipples made me notice other things were missing. It was a strange experience seeing her laid bare before me. She really did not wear much besides a shirt, and seeing her now - revealed what little she did not show. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but she was about as _thrilling_ to look at naked as it normally was when she was “fully clothed”.

I stared at her body and studied it. She continued to observe me and said nothing. I think she may have been breathing heavier than usual. I watched her chest rise and fall a few times before I worked up the courage to say anything. “You don’t have nipples?”

She blinked twice. “What are nip-pless?”

I looked down at my own bare chest and pointed to one of mine. “One of these things. They are on breasts, usually people like to cover them up specifically... I think I know why you didn’t care about taking off your shirt now.”

She chuckled. “Lucas, we’ve been over this before, I am not from Earth. These features your species has does not mean mine will.”

“Well, you do have tits, among other things, like two eyes and a mouth. That is kind of convenient.”

She frowned. “Venom - Glands. There is no - milk - production.”

Even though she didn’t have what I was expecting, it was hard to deny that her body was easy on the eyes. She was well toned, and her body’s outline was attractive. She had the look of a fit model, and it really made me ask myself again what the elders were thinking. Maybe they just had good taste.

11-7 noticed my interest. “You are truly enjoying this aren’t you... you are confusing. You only want to look when you think I do not see, then I offer and you leave, and now you stare unashamedly.” 

“I had some - uh, hang ups about that before, but I’m over them now.”

“It is good you took them down.” She gestured to the air. “But, I do not understand the purpose.”

I smiled. “It’s simple to explain, you are - beautiful, and I like to look at you, with or without a shirt.” A bit corny, but definitely an improvement over yesterday.

She leaned her head back and her eyes widened. She chuckled nervously. “You are being friendly again. Compliments are not - required we are already friends. And now... more - friend.” She was unsure, but at least she didn’t have a small scale freak out like yesterday. 

“Yes, well I offer it free of charge. You should take it, I don’t give them out often.”

“If you persist, I accept.” She rubbed her chin. “ - What are other things you consider to equate to the word beautiful?”

I chuckled. “Well, I don’t exactly have a list on standby, let me think for a moment. Um - full moon, water falls, maybe - flowers...” 

She cut me off. “A celestial body, moving water, and colored plants. All are completely different, but are connected by that word, interesting.” She looked me up and down, smirking after she was done. “Should I offer you one? Is that not how these transactions go?” 

I actually felt embarrassed that she had something to say about me. “It’s not like a trade, you don’t have to.”

She snickered. “But I am offering it free of charge.”

Is she a parrot, or a snake? “Lay it on me then.”

Her sharp eyes drifted to look at the side of my head. “Your ears are - mmm cute.” 

I was not expecting that. “My - ears?” I touched them both as I said that. 

She nodded. “Yes, the cartilage structures on the side of your head that are for hearing.” She flicked one of my ears from behind with the tip of her tail. “I like the way they are shaped. My kind do not have a structure like that for hearing.” She turned her head and pointed at a hole in her hood behind her eye. “This is my - ear.”

“Uh, thank you.” I think I was getting a taste of my own medicine here: getting complimented on an aspect of myself I had never thought about before. I think I liked that. I started to feel something stir in me. I wish I could say it was just in my chest, but there was also some down below. Probably from all the staring I was doing.

“You are welcome. It is reassuring to see you can be pushed off balance by words.” She crossed her arms and smirked, covering up her breasts in the process.

“Are you becoming conscious of being naked finally?” I joked.

She shook her head. “No, you are enjoying yourself too much. I can tell.” 

I really hope her ability to sense heat isn’t that sensitive. “Don’t worry I was just - studying them.” 

Her eyes sparkled and that smirk turned into a genuine smile. “Ah, so you _do_ have interest in my kind?”

That wasn’t quite what I meant, but I’ll roll with it. “Since I’ve met you I have become curious.”

“Your compliment is well placed. I am happy to hear I have influenced you and given you a taste for knowledge seeking.”

Time to tease her now. “Yes, but observation may not be enough to really _grasp_ an understanding. I should examine you closer, to learn about your species better of course.”

She cocked her head. “What are you meaning?” I made a grabbing motion in the air with my hands as a response. “Oh, you mean touch. I don’t know about that...” Her hood contracted slightly and she looked away.

She’s always flicking me and touching me. I should chase her around as a joke. I stood up, which immediately caught her attention, and I lunged at her. She looked surprised and dodged to the left, which caused me to slip and ram my face into the side of the pool. It didn’t hurt because it was inflatable. I stood up, she wasn’t moving, so I lunged at her again. 

This time she didn’t move and grabbed my hands with her hands. We locked fingers together and she held me back easily, but I wasn’t giving it my all - yet. She looked scared. “Lucas, why are you attacking me! Did I offend you?”

I shook my head and smiled. “No, I’m trying to play-fight you.”

“Play - fight? You mean a contest of strength?”

“Uh, probably, - whatever that is.”

Her pupils widened and she smiled. “How brave you are challenging me, - I will not go easy on you.” What have I gotten myself into.

Before I could respond she stopped pushing against my arms and yanked me close to her. She leaned back and snapped forward, slamming me into the ground. I was surprised she went into it right away, and I was dazed for a moment. While we were both underwater I was able to slip out of her arms and tried to get behind her. 

Part of her body bumped into me and knocked me off balance. She spun around and lunged forward at me. I dove into the water and attempted to slide under part of her body. My leg touched her, and she clamped down with her body, holding me in place by one of my legs. I opened my eyes underwater and saw she was moving into position to pin me. I used my free leg to push off of her body and free myself. It worked, and I was out of the water again. 

I needed a plan, I was way out of my league here attempting to wrestle with what equated to a large tube of pure muscle. One misstep and she would coil around me and the game would be over. My only chance would be to get her in a headlock and hope she couldn’t fling me off. I didn’t get much time to think because 11-7 shot forward and attempted to wrap around me. I grabbed her shoulders and vaulted over her. She chased me around like this for some time. Attempting to pin me and at the last moment I would slip away. I’m sure the water was helping with that, but every time she moved, water would slosh out of the pool and onto the overgrown grass, so I was quickly losing that advantage. I was biding my time and waiting for an opportunity. 

That opportunity came when she made a mistake and attempted to pin me against the side of the pool, which didn’t work because it was soft. She brought her head close enough that I was able to slip behind her and get her in a headlock with my arms. 

I was breathing heavily, and so was she. She didn’t struggle once I got her in a headlock. “Impressive - I was - unaware you - had combat experience?” She paused every few words to take a breath.

“No I just - wrestled with my brothers - all the time back when I was living on the farm.” I had to take a few breaths while I spoke too.

She craned her neck to look at me with one of her crimson eyes. “Hmmm, if I was one of your brothers you may have won this contest, but I think the fun is over.”

She grabbed my wrists with her hands and slipped her tail in between my arms and the front of her neck. I tried to pull my arms tighter, but her tail was significantly stronger than both of my arms. As she moved her tail through it got wider and gradually pulled my face into her hood and my body into her back. I held as hard as I could but her tail was unyielding, it was like I was trying to fight against a log. She forced me to let go, and once I did she shoved me onto the ground and pinned me.

She threw a lot of her weight on me, pressing into my waist and legs with her body, and holding my wrists against the ground. There was not much water left in the pool after our ”contest of strength”, so I was able to breath. Her head a few feet away from mine because her arms were long enough to pin mine from a distance.

We both stayed like this breathing for a few moments. I squirmed and tried to free my wrists, but there was no way I was getting out. I let out a defeated sigh. “Alright, I guess you win.” 

She smiled. “Normally the loser of a contest of strength would have to give the winner some of their rations, but since you already share your food I will make an exception in your case.”

“You win these often?”

She shook her head. “Not often, I was one of the youngest in my barracks .” She noticed my defeated expression and smirked. “Do not despair, your effort was valiant. But, you’d be foolish to think there would be a different outcome.”

“I’m just surprised I managed to get you in a headlock. You sure you weren’t going easy on me?”

She flicked her tongue at me. “I did not attempt to bite or scratch you if that is what you imply.”

“That’s true... Could you let me up? I’m getting tired of being pinned.” I tried to sit up and inadvertently pushed my hips into her. “Uh, sorry about that...”

Her expression changed immediately. She looked focused and stared at me with knife edge pupils. She started breathing heavily again, and did not stop pinning me. 

She didn’t say anything so I did. “Are you there 11-7?” I began to feel nervous.

She slowly leaned her body forward and gradually pressed against me more, bringing her face close to mine. 

I was definitely feeling something stir in me now that she was basically laying on me. Tits squished up against my chest, and weight on my groin. I didn’t know what to say now, so I didn’t say anything. It was like she was inspecting my face, taking her time to examine every feature. She looked unsure of what was happening, I felt uncertain about what was happening. This was uncharted territory for either of us, assuming that’s what this was. I didn’t want her to think I was scared, so I offered her a reassuring smile, which I think she took. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. She closed her mouth, and went back to observing me. After some time, she leaned her face forward. Her pink bifurcated tongue flicked out a few times, lingering in the air longer than usual. She was close enough for her tongue to lightly brush against my face a few times. After thoroughly tasting the air around my face, she touched the tip of my nose with her lips. Then she closed her eyes and mashed her face into the side of mine. She rubbed against it forcefully for a while, undulating her neck to do it. I think she was trying to - nuzzle me. Strange, but also cute. 

She pulled her face away from mine and examined my face again. I offered her another encouraging smile. Her eyes drifted down to my lips and back up to my eyes. She looked like she had made up her mind about something, and seemed determined. She closed her eyelids until they were half closed. The way she moved them was like she was trying to mimic something, rather than it being a natural action. Her lips parted ever so slightly and she calmly leaned forward, giving me a sensual look through half lidded eyes as she did. When our lips were inches from touching each other my phone started ringing.

Her pupils widened and she practically leaped up off of me. She slithered to the other side of the pool and I sat up to check my phone. Dammit, why now? I had a message from Ron of all people. He wanted to meet up at the bar here in my neighborhood, alone no bodyguard. Said it was urgent. Ron wasn’t one to kid around like that, so I should probably go. 

I looked up from my phone, 11-7 was coiled up at the other end of the pool, and averting her gaze from me. 

“You alright? Sorry if that spooked you.”

“No, I apologize. I do not know what came over me. That was irregular and unprofessional of me to do.” 

“Hey, I was cool with it.”

She looked up at me with a serious expression. “This is not ok, you could get in trouble for any interaction. Your career was almost destroyed by rumors of this, and we were doing something out in the open.” She peered around and looked around my backyard and at my neighbors’ houses.

“Don’t worry the fence is pretty high, and I’m never in my backyard.”

She leaned her head forward and stared at the bottom of the mostly empty pool. “I do not understand what happened. I was enjoying the game, and I won. When you were pinned I wanted to - do...” Words came flying out of her mouth, and she didn’t give me time to respond. “I don’t know, I touched your face, I couldn’t - control that.” She mumbled to herself for a few moments and looked up at me expectantly. “Is that normal?”

“Wha...”

“Is that normal!”

“Uhh, if you mean the seeking touch thing, yeah. For humans anyway.”

“Hmmm, - no it doesn’t matter. Anything is dangerous for us both.”

She was freaking out, so I tried to calm her down. I stood up and walked towards her. “I enjoyed that you know. It’s not like you hurt me, we’re both fine.”

She held out a hand and exclaimed. “Stay back.” I halted in my tracks. She looked at her open hand and closed it into a fist. “I... require - time to understand this.” Then she pointed at me accusingly. “and you need to be more concerned about your - image.” Before I could respond she changed the subject. “What did the message say?”

I explained to her what Ron asked me to do. She liked the idea and told me I should go. Well, she basically pushed me out the door once I changed into regular clothes. So, here I was walking down to the bar wondering what Ron wanted to talk about urgently, and wondering what the hell happened with 11-7 back there. She must be pretty shook to shove me out the door to go to a bar. Maybe she didn’t know what a bar was?

Either way, she keeps giving me mixed messages. One day she’s cuddling and flirting with me, and the next she’s freaking out because she nuzzled me. She said something about not being in control when she did that though... I’ll just give her some space. I'm sure she’ll be fine when I get back. 

It really was a nice day outside. The grass was green, and the trees were budding. The neighborhood was lively, people were out and about doing stuff. Some people were out walking, others were getting into cars and driving to the city. I stepped off the sidewalk, and let a group of kids ride past me on bikes. They were yelling and talking to each other all the way down the road. I smiled, it was nice to be reminded that there are actual people living in this neighborhood. Sometimes when I walk around it’s like a ghost town and the houses don’t even look like they’re occupied. 

10 minutes of walking later, and I was at the neighborhood’s strip mall. As far as I was aware, every neighborhood in the city had one, but they weren’t all the same. Ours was one building with a line of a few stores built into it that sold essential goods, and one restaurant. The Crab Shack, it was a bar and grill, I never went there that much because the food sucked, but at least the drinks were cheap. 

The parking lot in front of the strip mall wasn’t packed surprisingly, and the building itself was just made out of metal and that Sheetrock material Advent used to make the new buildings they didn’t care about. 

I walked through the parking lot, weaving in between a few cars, and stepping over some concrete barriers to get to the Crab Shack. I took a moment to admire the digital sign above the door, before entering. 

The aesthetic of the inside was completely different from the outside. It was dimly lit, grimy. The top half of the walls were painted green, and the bottom half was made up of this light colored wood paneling. There were various things hanging on the wall placed seemingly at random. Bits of sports paraphernalia, car parts, neon signs, old photos, instruments. It was like the owner just took whatever he could find from the old world for cheap and used it as a decoration. The floor was made of this tacky red linoleum. As soon as I walked in I was assaulted by the smell of cooking oil and alcohol. Despite all that people loved coming here. This place was well taken care of, but the feel of it was tailored to be a callback to what your average dive bar would have been like. Everything is so perfect and sterile nowadays that coming into a place like this was ironically a breath of fresh air, one with some real character.

I looked around the bar and saw Ron sitting in the corner at one of the many cheap looking wood round tables. He was wearing his usual outfit: a plaid button up shirt and a pear of jeans. He had on a bass fishing cap and his thick glasses. He was nursing a large glass of beer, and waved me over when he noticed me.

I walked over to one of the shoddy metal chairs across from him at the table, and felt the cheap fabric of the cushions as I sat down. “How’s it hangin Ron?”

“Low, considerin my age.” He laughed after saying that, and took a drink from his beer. 

Before I got to say anything else a barmaid walked over. The main feature of her outfit was a large black apron that had Crab Shack written on it, with the bar’s crab logo. It covered up her uniform, which seemed to be just a black shirt and jeans. “Can I getcha anything?”

“I nodded, yeah I’ll have a beer, Advent pale lager.” 

Ron piped up. “Bring me another, I’ll have this un’ finished in a few minutes.”

“Be back in a few.” She turned away from us, and Ron noticeably stared at her rear as she went to get our drinks.

He looked back at me. “She’s single ya know, I was chattin er up before ya got here.”

I chuckled. “For me, or for you?”

“Ya know I can’t bring a lady back home with me, she’d never get along with my wife.”

We laughed, and the barmaid set our drinks down. “You boys just holler if you need anything else, or go to the bar for refills.”

“I will miss, but before ya go how’s Ernie?”

She looked surprised, but responded. “Oh he’s out today. He doesn’t stay here much since he hired that new manager.”

“Too bad, haven’t heard from the guy in a while, but I’ll letcha get back to work.”

She smiled and nodded before walking over to another table.

“He’s a funny guy, but real bad at cards.” He looked over at my drink as I took a sip. “Only one, yer always knockin em back faster than me. Ya becoming a teetotaler?”

I really shouldn’t stumble home drunk. It wouldn't be good, especially if 11-7 is still freaking out. “Uh, I just don’t feel like getting that drunk right now, it’s like the middle of the day.”

He shrugged. “Suit yerself.”

“So, why’d you ask me to come down? You made it seem important.”

“Always straight to business, no time fer fun.” He got a serious look in his eye. “Ya don’t have anywhere to be do ya?”

It felt like he was accusing me of something. What it was I couldn’t say. “Uh, no, not really.”

He leaned back in his chair. “Good, because I was plannin on knocking back a few myself before we got to that.”

We chatted for a bit, eventually getting on the topic of what life was like pre-Advent. I hadn’t drunk much of my beer, but Ron was on his third.”

He raised his glass and set it back down. “I’ll say this it’s the boomers’ fault fer not preparing us fer somethin like this, and draggin all their wealth to their graves.” He took another drink, and adjusted his bass cap.

“I mean how much can people prepare for something as unexpected as an alien invasion?” I reasoned.

“They could’ve done better.” He pointed at himself. “I could’ve done better, with that useless education my parents convinced me to get.”

I chuckled and took a sip of my beer. “I’ve never heard anyone talk so much about a specific generation before. What generation are you?”

He chuckled. “Millennial, born 1980 right on the edge. What generation are you?”

I thought for a second. “I don’t remember, but I think my dad told me once.”

“If I had to wager a guess, I’d say you were in the last generation born to free parents, betcha feel special.”

“About as special as anyone else living today I guess. Only a few years of my childhood were before Advent, and I can barely remember them.”

“That’s a shame. And ya know, maybe yer right. Not all boomers were the same, my pa was all in this shit. I used to think he was nuts always talkin about the communists invading. Even after the USSR collapsed he’d still talk about China. I never listened to a word he said about it or anything else until I joined the military.” He chuckled and leaned back. “Turns out my dear Ol’ daddy got it wrong. We weren’t invaded from over the sea, we were invaded from space.”

“If you weren’t worried about an invasion, why’d you join the military.”

“Same stupid reason a lot of people joined: ta pay off my student loans. I know that doesn’t mean anything to you, but back in my day we had to pay for a useless degree. Nowadays people get them for free, but Advent has to approve it.”

“That’s weird, I never would have guessed. I always figured you cared about that stuff because you call Advent space commies sometimes.”

He chugged the last third of his beer before responding. “Oh, there’s so much we’d called em when I was garrisoned. Space commies, xenos, star twinks, xrays, LGM’s short fer little green men, teacups, ET’s, shit sometimes we’d even call em space niggers. Used to shitpost about it on an image board too, back when it was still a conspiracy theory, good times.” He looked wistfully at his empty beer glass.

I didn’t know how to respond to that. “That’s a lot.”

He laughed heartily. “Oh, I got plenty more in me, can’t remember em too well. But don’t let Advent catch ya saying shit like that. They’ll string ya up and parade ya around town.” 

He ordered some more beers and I kept sipping mine. 

“It’s funny.” Ron speaking caught my attention, so I looked up from my glass. 

“What?”

“How much I turned out like my pa.” He took a drink from his beer and continued. “I was so determined to not be like my pa when I was younger, even forced that on my kids too. Now they’re more like him than me.”

“Is that really a bad thing?”

He shrugged. “Would be the worst thing possible to me when I was younger. - Now, maybe it’s for the better. My point is the war, if ya could call it that, it changed us, all of us. Shit was getting wild up to before it. Everyone was going coocoo for cocopuffs. People used to be at each other’s throats over the smallest things, and trust me I was no exception. When the war started it reset everything. Well at least for the people, state governments and officials were tripping over themselves to betray each other and us. Our squabbles and our movements we all championed seemed so petty when we were faced with Armageddon. For a few months people were the sanest I’d ever seen. Then it as quick as it came it was over, we lost, people didn’t learn anything, and now our kids ’ll grow up loving Advent and whatever else they tell em to in school.” He took another drink and sighed. “I’m rambling though, I’m sure ya don’t want ta hear all this.”

“No, I’m listening. It’s interesting to hear a pre-Advent perspective because I don’t remember much from those days. I know Advent does stuff I’m not aware of that’s shady, but is it really any different from how things were before? I mean wasn’t the war at least partially our fault, they did come in peace.”

He frowned and looked me in the eye. The brim of his hat blocking the dim light and darkening his face. “You really believe that?”

He looked dead serious, so much so it caught me off guard, and I kinda froze up. “I... uh, - y-yes. But that doesn’t excuse their actions.”

He looked surprised. “Then it’s already happenin. Time’ll pass, the people who saw it ’ll die, and it’ll be the truth.” I was about to respond, but he kept talking. “I know I ramble a lot, but if you can take away something from all this make it this. I heard a quote once that was somethin like: if you tell a lie enough, and enough people believe it, it becomes true. Don’t know who said it, but I’ve seen so much shit that applied to it, it ain’t funny.”

I think I understood what he meant. “I’ll think about that. I mean it.” We silently drank our beers for a few minutes before I spoke again. “I gotta ask: did you really bring me down here to rant about Advent? We’ve talked about them before, there must be something else?” 

He looked up from his glass and sighed, adjusting his thick glasses before he spoke. “It’s about time we got on to the business... I’ll keep it - straightforward. I know what’s goin on - Between you and the snake.”

Fuck, this isn’t good. How the hell did he find out? Before I could defend myself he kept talking. “Now I don’t have any evidence if you’re worried about that, an maybe you don’t even rea-lize it yerself, what’s going on. That’s why I’m talking to ya about it. I seen some of it driving you, but until last night I thought it was just you tryna be nice. On the drive home the way you two were talkin an gettin all chummy... it don’t take a genius ta see what’s happenin between you two. And it didn’t sit right with me.”

I looked around the bar. There weren’t any people close enough to listen in on what we were talking about. He kept talking. “I can see you’re nervous Luke, but we’ve been friends for what, 5 years now. That may not be a super long time but that’s got ta count for somethin. I’m tryin to help you here.”

Ron definitely wasn’t the type to go talk to Advent about stuff, so I figured I’d share with him. I nodded and took a large gulp of my beer before continuing. “Yes, something is happening.”

His eyes widened, and he took off his hat to scratch his balding grey hair, leaning back in his chair as he did. “Shit - If yer admittin to it, it’s serious.” He put his cap back on and drank some more of his beer. “Can I ask why?” He looked up at me and raised an eyebrow.

I chuckled. “Do I really have to explain? You’ve seen her. She’s got a rockin’ body: hips, smooth stomach, soft scal...”

He waved his hands. “Christ I don’t need to hear all that.” He rubbed his forehead. “Luke, she ain’t human. Yer gettin close to crossin a line ya can’t uncross.”

I pointed accusingly at him. “You are a hypocrite, old man. I remember the first thing you said to me when you saw her, large - knockers.” I joked.

He smiled and shook his head. “Don’t bring me inta this now, that was different. It, it - was surface level, and I was sorta jokin. You know me, you put a pair of tits like that on anything and I’d take notice. But what yer talkin about is somethin else.” He paused for a moment to take a drink of his beer. “She’s a monster you don’t know what she’s capable of. She sent you to the hospital with one little bite for pete’s sake”

“That was - an accident. She’s not a monster, I know her way better than you do.” Hell maybe the sense of danger made interactions with her more interesting. 

“You - can’t understand her, and she can’t understand you. You’re too - different.”

“On the contrary, I think she gets me better than anyone.”

He shook his head and sighed. “I can’t expect ya to understand, ya haven’t seen what I’ve seen.” He drank half of his beer quickly before continuing. “Remember when I told you I needed to be drunk enough to tell you a war story, I think I’ve reached that point.”

“You’re not gonna make me change my mind.”

“It doesn’t matter, ya need to hear this. A few weeks into the war I was garrisoned at a base close to a small town. One night we caught word from the higher ups that somethin was going down at that town, so we strapped up an moved out. When I stepped out of the APC I couldn’t believe what I was seein, the place looked like a war zone. Fire, buildings destroyed, mutilated bodies laying in the street. A lot of em had guns in their hands, but they never stood a chance. I swear I’ll never forget that sickly sweet smell, of burnt meat...” He paused taking another drink. “This wasn’t Iraq, this was a rural town in the middle of the country. They shouldn’ta had to deal with that. We were ordered to fan out to search for survivors and remaining hostiles. Me an’ a guy I was friends with went inside this hair salon. Inside we found 12 bodies...”

He started to choke up a little. “Some of - them were - children...” He stopped for a minute and took a deep breath before continuing. “At the back we saw one of those vipers. It had a pair of scissors stabbed in its eye, and was leaking this yellow gunk everywhere. We pointed our guns at it, but we weren’t sure if it was alive. It looked up at us and my buddy told me not to shoot because it wasn’t armed. It was hurt and looked scared. My buddy thought we could take it in because it must be sapient because it didn’t attack us outright. He pointed his gun down and started talkin to it. Tried to convince it to come with us quietly. As soon as he was close enough it leaped forward and bit his arm. I gunned it down as soon as it started movin. My buddy was injured and there was this green stuff all over the wound. I called him an idiot, and as I picked him up we heard fightin outside. When I drug him out of the building, it had started raining, bullets and plasma were wizzing back and forth across this street, there were guys getting gutted by these bug things, and fresh bodies in the street. We were losing, and everyone was retreatin to the APC’s. I dragged my friend as fast as I could, but another one of those Vipers came after me. I tried to shoot at it with my sidearm as I kept dragging my friend, but I missed with the whole clip.”

He paused staring thoughtfully at his beer, before taking another drink. “He was unconscious, and I knew he wasn’t going to make it with that green shit in his veins, even if I got him some help. So I left him, and ran like hell, didn’t have time to get his dog tags... Managed to get on one of the last APC’s and that was it.”

I took a sip of my beer. “Damn, I can see why you needed a drink.”

He nodded and adjusted his glasses. “All of my stories are like that. We went in, saw some shit, got fucked, an’ retreated. That’s why I’m always sayin it wasn’t much of a war. We were just buying time, doing our required duty.”

“That’s a fucked up situation to be in, but she’s loyal to me. It’s her job to protect me.”

“I’m not empty-headed enough to think one story ‘ll change yer mind. I want you to know what I’ve seen, to know what they’re capable of. I’m trying to warn ya she’s loyal to Advent, and if they order her ta do somethin she’ll do it. God knows, maybe she’s done some war crimes herself. - But do what ya want. It’s yer life I don’t have any control over it more than I do my kids lives.” 

I finished my beer in silence and said one last thing before I left. “I’ll be starting work again on Monday. See you then?”

He raised up his glass. “See ya then, buckaroo. Don’t die on me.” He took a drink and I left. 

He had given me a lot to think about, but a lot of it I had already considered. I didn’t have the time to look into everything Advent has done that’s wrong, but maybe I should. I trust Ron, he isn’t the kind of guy to lie about this stuff, and if he tattled to Advent he’d be in a much worse position than me. If I learned anything it’s that I need to be more careful to make this thing work. If anyone finds out, I’m ruined. I checked my phone, I had been gone for a couple hours, maybe she’s ok now? I really hope I never put her in a situation where she has to choose between Advent and me. I know all too well the pain of making a decision like that, and the hardest part has always been living with the consequences of it... Well, I mean It would really suck if she chose Advent over me. 

As I walked home, people were still out and about. Happily doing whatever, oblivious to my problems. It didn’t take long to walk home, and I walked inside. 11-7 wasn’t in the living room, but I noticed the door to her room was closed. I figured she still wanted space, so I gave it to her. I put away the pool and bike pump, and watched some tv. After a few hours she still hadn’t come out of her room, and it was getting dark out. 

I should check on her. I walked over and knocked on her door. “Hey, are you gonna hide in your room all night?” 

I heard her groan, and she said something. “I am, so disperse.” She sounded tired.

I thought about doing what she said, but then I remembered yesterday. She didn’t leave me alone, so maybe I shouldn’t leave her alone. “I think you’ve done enough hiding for one day.” I went to jiggle the doorknob to get her attention, but found it was unlocked. The door opened, and I got an eyeful of her room for the first time. Everything in her room was bathed in this faint blue glow, even though the lights were off. The walls were as bare as I remembered, but her plasma rifle was mounted by the bed. There was a desk by the window with no chair, it had some kind of computer terminal on it. There were chords of various thicknesses strewn about on the floor. And some kind of angular square black thing in the corner that emitted a blue light from randomly placed lines on it. 

Her bed took up like half of the room, maybe more. It was covered with various blankets and pillows that were grouped up to make some sort of a nest. They were all so different her bed looked like the aftermath of a slumber party. Soon after I opened the door I saw something stir in the blankets and one of them slowly lifted up. An orange arm reached up and pulled the blanket down, revealing 11-7’s face. 

She blinked a few times and yawned. “Was the door unlocked?”

I turned to look at it, and back at her. “Apparently. Are you ok?

She nodded. “My condition has equalized.”

“Uh, good. You want to talk about it?”

She slumped back down on her bed, resting her head on her arms. “There is not much to discuss.”

I walked over to her bed, and sat on the side of it. “Then this won’t take too long.” 

She looked away from me and sighed, burying her head in her arms. “I am concerned about hurting you, again, - but not with venom. The last time I made a mistake you went to the hospital.”

“We did have a pretty serious wrestling match today and you didn’t hurt me.”

She pulled her head out of her arms and focused back on me. “I’m aware, - but I could have...”

I shook my head. “I could interact with anyone, or anything, and there’s always a chance I could get hurt, but I’m not afraid you’re gonna hurt me. And, if it makes you feel any better, I think you’re worth the risk.” I winked at her after saying that.

Her hood contracted slightly after I said that. “Oh...” She didn’t speak for a few moments and stared at the angular black - blue light thing. “Thank you Lucas. My concerns will never disappear, but your words are comforting.”

I might be getting better at this. “Happy to return the favor.” I looked at the door and sighed. “I’d understand if you wanted to be alone tonight, I just wanted to check up on you after what happened.” 

As soon as I said that, one of her hands shot out from under a blanket and grabbed mine. “No!” She released my hand and bashfully looked away. “The - agreement. You can stay if you want to.” 

I chuckled. “You know what, I think I do.” I got up and shut the door. When I turned around she lifted up one of the larger blankets that had a white fluffy texture to it, and patted the bed in an empty spot under that blanket next to her. I took the hint and climbed in.

It was probably like 80 degrees under these blankets. “Jeez you really like it hot, huh.”

She snickered. “My bed - my rules.” Her tail snaked around the outside of where we were laying, and she pulled it in so I was laying against part of it. I grabbed the nearest pillow and got comfortable. 

She let out a content sigh, and closed her eyes. As I watched her cute sleeping face, lit by the blue glow coming from that thing that was probably an Advent nightlight, I wondered what the hell I was getting myself into. This was by definition weird. If you had told me like 3 weeks ago that I would be sharing a bed with an alien I would have told you to fuck off, and yet here I am. It wasn’t going to be easy, Ron made that apparent to me today. I was playing a dangerous game, but I was determined to make it work however I could. 

I reached out and rubbed the back of her hood gently. She smiled and wrapped her arms around me, but didn’t open her eyes. Yeah, it was worth it. Sleep came easily tonight. 


End file.
